Cold Blue Metal
by zero0000
Summary: To save Uzumaki Naruto's life from the village council, the Sandaime declared him as Konoha's secret weapon and assigned the responsibility of his training to recently named ANBU captain Uchiha Itachi. Mildly AU. Probably going to be NaruKin
1. Orders

**Prologue: Orders**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and so do you (unless you're Kishimoto-sama)

The raven-haired ANBU sat at the Sandaime's office, sharpening the edge of his katana with a pocket-sized whetstone. At thirteen he had already made a name for himself in the ranks of the elite assassination corps, claiming hundreds of lives with a ruthlessness not known since the legendary White Fang of Konoha. Still his skills were not at their fullest. He knew this and grimaced at the thought. There was power out in the world, and he desired to tap into it and prove once and for all his inner greatness.

Tilting the katana in the fluorescent light, he examined the edge and nodded. Taking of his glove, he ran a finger lightly along the blade, drawing a line of blood across his index finger. Razor sharp. His sensei once told him that a quick death was the only mercy people in his line of work could afford his enemy. A death can be made quickest with a sharp blade. After all his years in the front line he still knew this to be true.

The ANBU glanced at the Hokage's door. If anything, shinobi work had taught him patience. The one who could keep his cool in the middle of a battlefield often ended up the last one standing. It took fifteen more minutes before the office door opened and a clerk came out with a clipboard.

"Uchiha Itachi? The Hokage will see you now."

The ANBU captain nodded and walked inside. The Sandaime was in his desk, rifling a bunch of folders together. Mission orders probably. Itachi had no idea what it was like to be restricted to a desk job but he considered such an experience worse than death. The Hokage looked up and motioned for him to sit down.

Itachi did as he was bidden and took off his mask, laying his katana on the floor directly in front of him. "Itachi, I've called you here for some very specific mission orders that I feel only a shinobi of your caliber will be able to accomplish," the Sandaime was saying. "I know you have a lot of things to do so I will be brief."

There was no motion for him to respond so Itachi kept silent. The Sandaime continued.

"You are familiar with Project Nine, I suppose?" The Uchiha heir frowned. Project Nine was the call sign for one of the most closely guarded secrets to Konoha. Not six years ago the village was attacked by the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the demon lord considered the most powerful of them all.

The previous Hokage had lost hundreds of ninja in the defense of the village, and was later forced to use a jutsu that would cost him his life. So, in the interest of Konoha's welfare, he sealed the demon into the body of a newborn baby, turning the child into a jinchuuriki. Project Nine.

It did not need to be said that the project was clearly Eyes Only information, classified to the highest degrees.

Itachi mumbled a reply. "Yes, Hokage-sama," he stated. "I am familiar with the barest details of the project." The Sandaime nodded. "Good, then this will make it easier for you then."

"Years ago when the council decided that the best measure to ultimately bring about the Kyuubi's demise was to kill the child bearing it in his body, I proposed a solution. The solution was that the child be reared up as a weapon, a weapon utilizing the infinite chakra capacities of the demon and thus providing Konoha with the military superiority that would later compensate for our current dip in the shinobi ranks."

"Forgive me for being forward but—"

"Speak your concerns, Uchiha-san."

"What will this have to do with me?"

Sarutobi took a deep breath. "I have hand picked you to serve as his sensei and guardian as of eleven hundred hours tomorrow morning." Surprise marred Itachi's face.

"Surely the academy will train this child—"

"The academy wants nothing to do with him, Itachi," the Hokage stated simply. The light of understanding dawned on a pair of onyx eyes. "Are they seriously considering that the Kyuubi and this…this _child_ are one and the same?" he spat. "He is the Yondaime's legacy for kami-sama's sake!" The Hokage nodded.

"True, but then again when has tragedy brought out the best in human nature?"

Taking a scroll from beneath a small pile, the Hokage handed Itachi his mission orders. The ANBU scanned it quickly and grimaced. The orders were to act as the boy's guardian and train him in a manner fit for ANBU in a period of not less than four years. The wheels in his mind spun.

Itachi had not been a prodigy for nothing. Already he sees the massive implications of such an order and why the Hokage would choose him and him alone for this mission.

One, he was the top ANBU of the village since the retirement of his old teicho, Hatake Kakashi. Two, the possibility of the council's interference in this mission is reduced to nil on account of the Uchiha political connections with Fire Country's Damyo. And finally, three, the presence of an ANBU captain would certainly dissuade any irrational people from doing something excessively violent to the boy in his guardianship.

He cursed inwardly. _I do not need this right now_, Itachi thought, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers.

"Those are your orders. Dismissed."

Itachi snapped to attention and turned away, pivoting smartly on his heel. Once out of the Hokage's office, he decided to meet the boy he was supposed to train for four years. The scroll included directions to an orphanage founded for the child victims of the Kyuubi assault.

It took a few minutes to get there, as the orphanage was all the way on the other side of Konoha. As he approached the gate he waved to an unseen person in the trees lining the compound. The ANBU perched on the branch had waved back when he caught himself and cursed. Itachi had to smirk at the sight.

He was feeling a lot better about today already.

Handing a letter from the Sandaime to one of the people in reception, he waited for the child to get brought to him. One of the orphanage staff noted his ANBU uniform and approached him carefully.

"Has Hokage-sama sent you for the boy?"

Itachi's eyebrow went up. The man winced but continued anyway. "It's about time really," the man commented. "We knew the Hokage would need some time before he finally decided to have the brat…disposed of." The Uchiha was taken aback, though his face didn't show it. Did these people really think he was here to _kill_ the brat?

The ANBU decided to ignore him for the moment, as a scruffy looking child was brought to him. Itachi grimaced. Didn't this kid ever bathe! Kami-sama, he smelled like he got himself rolled in the garbage a couple of times!

Funny enough, he _did_ look like he was rolled in the garbage a couple of times.

The boy was small for his age (he couldn't have been older than Itachi's otouto), with unkempt blonde hair and what looked like tearstained blue eyes. A bright and oversized orange shirt was covering his body, along with torn and disheveled shorts. The boy got pushed towards him and fell to the ground as he lost his balance, but in the process gained Itachi's respect.

The boy never once cried out.

It was as if the boy's emotions got desensitized from living in this environment, his disheveled appearance owing to his possible mistreatment at the orphanage. Yet even with all of these his eyes shone with a quiet determination and an even more subtle strength that may yet prove to be worth Itachi's while.

"You look like hell kid."

Bright blue eyes looked up in wonder. Somebody was actually talking to him? And without all those words that got him trouble when he tried repeating them? The boy looked up at the person addressing him. He was tall and dressed in shinobi garb, but none like the boy ever saw before. The man had onyx eyes and raven black hair, and though he had a boyishly attractive face, seemed devoid of any emotion whatsoever.

The man extended his hand and the boy again looked at him in amazement. The man wasn't trying to hit him? Why was such a thing even possible? He wiped his hand on the corner of his already dirty shirt and took it. The blonde was jolted again as the man asked for his name.

"N-Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto."

"Hn."

Okay so maybe he wasn't that much of a talker. Naruto could deal with that. "You'll be a hero for what you're about to do!" the orphanage staff called out. Itachi ignored him and walked out the door, the blonde in tow. The boy's eyes continued roaming over his companion's body, so much so that Itachi noticed and stopped completely and demanded why he was doing so.

"Who are you?" Itachi sighed. And he was so enjoying it when the brat kept his pie hole shut. The both of them stopped as the ANBU knelt down to address the kid. "Listen and listen well," Itachi said. "My name is Uchiha Itachi. The Hokage sent me here to turn you from this," he said, gesturing at Naruto's current disheveled form, "to this," he said, drawing the katana from his scabbard. The blonde stared.

"You're going to turn me into a sword?"

Itachi's eyes dissolved into his three-tomoe Sharingan, his face and body dropping into a position calculated to use a hundred different fear stimuli inside the mind of an opponent. "I will teach you more ways to kill than you ever thought possible," he breathed. Naruto dropped to the ground on his butt, his eyes starting to tear up as his body was shaking in fear.

"No longer will the blue in your eyes show fear. Instead they will show the presence of cold blue metal, the eyes of a living sword." The boy started to tear up, his whimpering causing Itachi to grab him by the collar and press the edge of the blade to his neck. The pressure was enough to draw a tiny trickle of blood. "You will learn that there is no place in your life for weakness and tears. For you will learn that there is one thing and one thing alone keeping me from killing you outright."

"I will turn you into the sword of Konoha."


	2. Replacement

**Replacement**

"Sasuke-kun!"

The Uchiha turned to see his pink-haired teammate running towards him. He smiled. Sakura had always had a soft spot for him, and even though he told her he would always see her like a sister, it didn't stop the girl from growing on him. "Did you hear?" the kunoichi asked, stopping a moment to catch her breath. "Kakashi-sensei says that we'll be getting our new teammate for the Chuunin exam today.

Sasuke frowned. The third member of team seven, Fujimori Tsuko, had been killed in the mission to Wave Country to protect the bridge builder Tazuna. In the process, Sasuke had been able to activate his Sharingan, but too late as Haku managed to kill Tsuko before the genin even had a chance to fight back.

With a titanic effort the remaining three members of the cell, Kakashi included, pushed back the nukenin Zabuza and Haku, slaughtering the both of them in a shower of kunai and their sensei's legendary move, the Chidori. It's been three months since that happened, and with the advent of the Chuunin exams, a teammate had been requisitioned for them so they can participate.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun," Sakura tugged at his arm. "I heard he was only supposed to take the genin exam today. How do they expect us to work with such an inexperienced ninja anyway?" she huffed. "Strange."

The raven-haired boy shrugged at his best friend's words. "Tell you what," he chirped "It's still eight in the morning, and knowing Kakashi-sensei, he won't be here until well after eleven thirty."

Sakura nodded. The jounin had asked them to be at the bridge at ten, and calculating for his average time, he would be there a couple of hours late for sure. "What say we go take a peak in the academy and see who our teammate is supposed to be?" When Sakura nodded excitedly, Sasuke smiled. "Okay," he said "Let's go!" The both of them blurred into nonexistence, ninja style.

At precisely ten o' clock in the morning, Kakashi walked into the bridge, giggling every few moments from the porn he was reading. Upon reaching the concrete bridge, he blinked. And blinked again.

Where the hell was his team?

Meanwhile across the village in the old ninja academy, Umino Iruka was walking down the hall to administer an individual genin test to one Uzumaki Naruto. The chuunin read the name on the file and frowned. The Kyuubi-gakki was going to test for genin so he could qualify for the chuunin exams in three weeks?

He read a little further and whistled at the details of the child's training. During the years he should have spent at the academy, he was living in the Uchiha compound, trained privately by the heir to the clan himself. Iruka didn't know if Itachi was that good a teacher, but anybody who was trained by an ANBU captain wasn't one to be snorted at.

The chuunin reached room 209 and found a blonde boy in an orange tracksuit accompanied by a raven haired ANBU in a weasel mask. Said blonde was being addressed by, presumably, Itachi himself. At every word the blonde showed no visible reaction except a nod at appropriate instances.

"I think we should begin."

The pair trained their eyes at him. Itachi nodded and sat down on one of the chairs in the classroom, third row from the front. The blonde walked over to where Iruka was and introduced himself. The chuunin pretended to look into his file and nodded, "If you will Uzumaki-san."

"The genin exams comprise of two items," Iruka explained. "First you must be able to create a perfect henge mirroring me. The next being that you must be able to create two perfect bunshins. Is that clear Uzumaki-san?"

Receiving no response, Iruka signaled for him to begin.

It had been a couple of seconds before the chuunin realized the blonde wasn't responding. "Naruto," the instructor said, getting annoyed. "If you're not going to continue with this exercise, I suggest you tell Uchiha-san to take you home. I will not have my time wasted with these shenanigans."

Iruka sat down at the desk in front of the classroom, and as he was about to write a large, red FAILED on the very center of Naruto's file, the sound of a single person clapping took the chuunin from his reverie. He looked and saw Uchiha Itachi at the door, looking markedly impressed with—

Wait a minute.

Iruka blinked and stared at the other Itachi in the third row. The ANBU poofed and an exact replica of the blonde examinee sat staring at him with the same emotionless expression he wore. "Impressive henge, ne, Iruka-sensei," Itachi remarked. "He's been showing a lot of promise with these things and I had hoped this little presentation would be a good starting point to your test."

"Okay so he may have passed item one but that still leaves bu…exactly what is it that you find so amusing?" Itachi's face contorted to a smirk, his Sharingan spinning. "I think it would be wise for you to get out of your chair, sensei," the ANBU said. "We wouldn't want you hurting the boy."

"What do you--"

The instructor was cut off when the chair he was sitting on morphed into the blonde examinee holding a kunai at his throat and pulling his arm in a half nelson. Impressed by Naruto's stealth, Iruka was surprised yet again when the desk poofed into another replicant, this time subduing his other arm and pressing the edge of another kunai at his throat. "There's the two bunshin you wanted," the boy's tutor said. "But I think the boy may have overdone it a bit."

At Itachi's words, all of the chairs snapped out of their collective henge and transformed into thirty Naruto clones, all with spinning kunai in hand. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin," the ANBU explained, his eyes reverting back to onyx. "His impressive chakra capacities inspired me to teach him that move. A rather impressive tactic, don't you agree?"

A jounin level move by a genin? No, not even a genin. A genin examinee then. Iruka would have picked his jaw from the floor but he realized that the blonde replicants were still subduing him, not to mention the thirty odd bunshins who had yet to disappear from existence. A bead of sweat travelled down his face.

"That's enough Naruto. Disengage."

All the clones exploded in a puff of smoke, leaving just the Naruto holding onto the chuunin's arm. Itachi walked over and took the kunai from his hand, the blonde slowly pulling himself away from the instructor and standing at attention.

Iruka straightened himself up. The boy was capable of so much more than many of the children his age. He looked into the eyes of his tutor. Was that _pride_ he saw in the eyes of the great and glorious Uchiha Itachi? He bent down again and whispered into the boy's ear, the blonde never showing an ounce of a reaction.

"So does he pass?"

"Well…I must admit that this is unorthodox, but he does seem to know his basics."

_Basics hell. The kid has a higher proficiency at ninjutsu than most chuunin!_ Iruka shook his head and handed the pair the paperwork necessary for them to enter Naruto in the chuunin exam. "I believe you'll find Hatake-san in the training field by the bridge," the instructor said. "Be sure and have him turn in this paperwork accomplished, alright?"

"No way."

The two genin were sticking to the high wall of the academy, supported only by the chakra gathered in their palms and in their feet. The exercise was originally designed to expand their chakra capacities, but Sasuke knew that this was an excellent tool for spying.

Sakura glanced at her teammate, surprised to find his face marred in shock. Sasuke was shaking where he perched, his fists clenched in an expression of what seemed like barely restrained anger. The kunoichi turned to look in the window again. Who was this blonde kid that Sasuke was all riled up like that?

"Yo."

The voice of their jounin sensei would have successfully knocked them off the wall, had it not been for the awkwardness of Sauke's reaction to their new teammate. Hatake Kakashi, sticking to the wall by his feet, meandered over to where the pair where adhered to the wall and glanced inside the window.

"Ah I see you've met Uzumaki Naruto," he said, momentarily taking his eyes off the porn he was reading. "Hokage-sama said he'd be our temporary replacement until the end of the chuunin exam, after which a more permanent member of our team can be found."

Sakura nodded, glancing into the window again. "That's Sasuke's niisan, isn't it?" she said, gesturing at the ANBU, not noticing Sasuke flinching at the words. "Who is he to this Uzumaki character?"

"He trained him."

Kakashi noticed the furious expression on Sasuke's face. Deciding not to add more fuel to the fire than was already there, he motioned for the both of them to get off the wall. Sakura hurriedly complied, but Sasuke took another few minutes before he got down. Shooting a look that had pure hatred at the blonde genin, he whispered under his breath.

"Why the hell did it had to be _him_ of all people?"

A/N: Now why in the name of J. Edgar Hoover did Sasuke react like that to Naruto? Hmmm… I smell issues here. But the question being, will I even tell you people what those issues are?

(maniacal laughter)

Boy do I feel sadistic today.


	3. First Blood

**A/N: **Okay. So I've been getting reviews about possibl,y giving this fic a pairing. Well it's not going to happen...in this installment. Yes, there will be a sequel (or two) to CBM, but I won't be sure until I finally get this entire story down.

Sasuke and Naruto's relationship will be elaborated in later chapters, but for now, here is an action scene I hope you'll like.

**First Blood**

Sasuke's mind was spinning.

Of all the people the Hokage could have assigned them to be their teammate, it had to be _him_. His eyes refused to see the path in front of him as he lagged behind Sakura and Kakashi. He tried to steady his emotions with the breathing exercises they were taught from the academy, but even then he failed to curb the growing mass of fury building up inside him.

It would be redundant to say that by now Sakura had a good idea that there was something troubling her teammate. Striding closer to her sensei, she asked him what it was. Kakashi took a moment to look up from his book and sighed.

"If Sasuke wants to tell you, let him."

Jade eyes turned to see Sasuke's form lagging behind them. The kunoichi shook her head. Ignoring the screams of Inner Sakura (_Beat him into the ground and make him tell us!_), she decided that if Sasuke wanted to tell them, it was his decision.

It took a few more minutes before the trio reached their old training grounds by the bridge. Kakashi had them go through drills, shuriken throwing, some laps and a short sparring match. It was almost high noon when a voice diverted their attention from training.

"Konnichiwa, Kakashi-sempai."

Flashback.

_A pair of blue eyes pointed forward, seemingly ignoring everything else but the hallway in front of him. In truth he was quietly memorizing the path, taking note of every single ambush point in the area. Windows, perfect for a ranged attack from the outside. The classroom doors themselves, an ambush could be planned by placing personnel just in—_

"_Naruto."_

_The jinchuuriki snapped his eyes to his right, on the face of his handler, all the while keeping his peripheral vision trained to the hallway. Itachi reflected on how difficult it had been to get Naruto this far. A total of seventy five assassination attempts, sixty from his own clan, several pig-headed members of the village council, and his own relentless training regimen. It was a miracle the brat was still standing. _

_But if Uzumaki Naruto were to remain this way, there was one more issue of serious import to discuss. _

_Itachi's eyes were still trained to the front as he spoke. "I realize that it will be an awkward situation when you finally meet my otouto," the ANBU said. "I'm sure it's no secret that he feels a certain…animosity towards you." The living weapon remained silent. There were no orders to respond after all. _

"_You have to understand," his sensei was saying. "He feels that somehow my duties to train you have taken away his place in my life. You know this is far from true." The ANBU took another breath. _

"_Promise me you'll take care of him all the same."_

_Naruto stopped in his tracks long enough for him to bow formally and declare "Hai, sensei."_

End Flashback.

The raven-haired ANBU saluted his former commander, which the Copy Ninja returned if briefly. "You realize I'm not ANBU anymore, Uchiha," Kakashi said dryly. "Old habits die hard, sempai," was the response. Kakashi pocketed his book and called his cell over.

When Sakura and Itachi's younger brother finally arrived, Kakashi motioned to young Uzumaki. "This dear children," he said, gesturing at the blonde "is Itachi's student, Uzumaki Naruto. As of today he'll be joining our team for the chuunin exams next month, until a proper replacement has been found."

The jinchuuriki stared at both of them as if to size them up. Sakura took a step back as she faltered from his gaze. Needless to say, Sasuke's reaction was startlingly different. The Uchiha kept his gaze level, unconsciously activating his Sharingan as if to prepare for battle. His teeth were grinding in his mouth.

Naruto placed his hands at his sides and bowed formally. His training called for some formality in encounters such as this. "Uzumaki Naruto," he barked. "Pleased to meet you." Sakura managed a polite wave while Sasuke just glared. Soon all three were introduced.

Kakashi clapped his hands once. "All right, since the three of you haven't quite had the opportunity to bond properly yet, I think it's a good opportunity to get to know young Uzumaki's abilities," the jounin said. "Sasuke, why don't you break in the boy?"

The aformentioned genin grinned like a madman and cracked his knuckles. The blonde dropped into a ready stance and just as Kakashi was signaling for the sparring match to begin, Itachi interrupted.

"Kakashi-sempai, I think I want to see just how well I trained the boy," the Uchiha prodigy said. "Why don't you ask Haruno-san to join my otouto to keep Naruto on his toes, ne?"

Sasuke glared. He took this as a personal insult to his skills. He was more than enough to beat this bastard and he knew it. Sakura on the other hand, was thinking other things.

Why did Itachi-san want Naruto have two opponents? What kind of skill or training did he possess to enable him to take on two sparring partners at a time? Storing this data away, Sakura pulled out a kunai just as Sasuke started to grow impatient.

"Begin."

At Kakashi's words the pair exploded into action. Sakura took to the defensive, moving her hands in a set of quick seals to create a pair of bunshin to flank her opponent. Naruto seemed unfazed as he took the bunshins simultaneously, slicing through the clones with a pair of carelessly thrown shuriken. A blur of pink hair flashed just as Naruto took down the girl with a sweep kick to her right ankle. The kunoichi flipped backwards, noticing at once the state of preparation her teammate was in preparing a distance attack. Sakura jumped back in preparation.

Sasuke saw an opening just as his teammate hit the ground. Blurring his fingers into a set of seals, he inhaled deeply and fired. "**Katon! Housenka no jutsu!**" six blazing masses of heat slashed through the air as the Mystical Fire Flower sought out their blonde target.

Surprisingly, Naruto made no move to dodge. Instead, he dropped back into a stance and proceeded to methodically smash apart the balls of flame with his open palms, scorching his skin with each impact. The blonde flowed into the stances like he was dancing, keeping his hands moving like a river of water.

Kakashi's single eye widened. A defensive taijutsu based on the Hyuuga clan's Jyuuken (Gentle Fist)? He glanced at his former subordinate, but Itachi's face was unreadable.

Sakura too was surprised. Naruto was able to fight back against a chakra assault with just taijutsu? Her mind worked in overdrive as she pulled out yet another set of kunai. It seemed she and Sasuke would have to work together on this one. Though really, there's nothing to worry about since there was no questioning their teamwork—

"Sakura! Get out of the way! This bastard's mine!"

She slapped her own forehead in frustration. Why oh why did she have to speak too soon? Gritting her teeth at this uncharacteristic development in her teammate, she planted herself in a position to launch salvos of kunai when Sasuke's attack inevitably breaks off.

The younger Uchiha gathered chakra to his legs, moving at blinding speed as he activated his Sharingan. With the world moving at slow motion, he would only need a few more minutes to take down his opponent. Or so he believed.

Naruto was still in his defensive stance. With startling accuracy, he proceeded to parry each an every one of Sasuke's blows. Red eyes widened in surprise. Sasuke could see every single move as they were about to be made, but still the other genin managed to speed up at the last minute and effectively neutralize his attack.

Sakura noticed this too. Naruto's taijutsu was the best she ever saw since…Sasuke. The blonde caught the brunette's every blow, but for some reason he never retaliated, never took a punch even when there was a clear opening. It took a few minutes for Sasuke's chakra-depleting doujutsu and his uncharacteristically reckless attacks took their toll on him, forcing him to back away and revert back to his normal eyes.

Sakura waited for the exact moment when her teammate pulled back when she launched a whole volley of edged weapons. A flurry of shuriken whistled through the air as she ran to keep pace with the weapons. The blonde genin hefted a kunai and proceeded to halfheartedly knock each one of them away as the kunoichi edged ever closer.

Just as Sakura was winding her arm for a massive haymaker, Naruto ducked under the blow and used the open palm of his hand to slam into the girl's solar plexus, throwing her backwards almost fifteen feet and knocking her unconscious. With a loud cry, Sasuke decided to avenge his teammate, spinning a kunai by its hole as he charged the blonde.

As quickly as Sasuke approached, Naruto's hand snaked past his punch and tapped into a pressure point in the ninja's shoulder. The young Uchiha was dropped like a bad habit, half of his body paralyzed and his eyes burning with anger.

Kakashi blinked as he realized the match was over in one hundred and twenty-five seconds. "Well," he commented. "I think you'll do here indeed, Naruto-kun."

* * *

A/N: Naruto's taijutsu in this chapter resembles that of Jet Li from the movie, "The One." Specifically, the good guy, Gabriel Yu Law. It's flowing but powerful, focusing on the fluidity of the style and the force of each individual blow when they connect. 

Naruto isn't really a lot more powerful here than he was in the canon. The thing is, he's just gotten a whole lot of specific training regimens with his taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu than he would have had if he went to the academy. Plus the fact that Itachi was a massive perfectionist (can you expect a genius to be anything else?) made for a very effective curriculum for your average ninja. Will he be able to use the Kyuubi's chakra here?I don't know. Yet.

That wasn't gentle fist he used on Sakura, just a really forceful palm strike that was calculated to get the massive amount of air out of a person's lungs. Ever get hit by a basketball in the chest? Hard? Well that's kind of what it felt like for Sakura.

Review please.


	4. Issues

**Issues**

A/N: Bloody hell. Not another chapter. Aw well, here it goes again.

"Sasuke-san."

The raven-haired genin looked up to see Naruto offering his hand. He flicked it away and got up on his own, limping slightly as he walked over to where Sakura lay prone. The blonde just tilted his head, looking slightly confused as the Uchiha walked away.

Kakashi took out his perverted book again. "Impressive work, Itachi-kun," the Copy Ninja said. "I haven't seen taijutsu like that since you were in ANBU." The addressee merely shrugged.

"Well, I try, sempai."

Sakura woke up with a splitting headache. "Wh-what happened?" she asked, looking up at Sasuke's face. "We lost," the boy seethed. "Bastard took us down without even trying." It was then that the kunoichi remembered. With her free arm she smacked Sasuke in the face.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Idiot! If you hadn't lost your head back there we would have stood a chance!"

Sasuke rubbed his head, muttering obscenities under his breath. Sakura got up and walked over to where the blonde stood to congratulate him. "Nice spar, Naruto-kun," she said, patting him on the back. The boy turned his expressionless face on her and replied with a polite stretching of his lips, which on Naruto, was pretty much the closest thing to a smile.

Itachi had walked over as well, laying a hand on the orange-clad genin. "Naruto," he whispered "twenty laps around the clearing. After you're done, fifty pushups on your knuckles." The blonde took off to comply, much to Sakura's surprise.

"What was that for Itachi-sempai!" Sakura raged. "He won didn't he? Why'd he have to be punished like that?" Sasuke's older brother glared, forcing the girl to take several steps back.

"Now, now. We'll have none of that here."

Kakashi had arrived, Sasuke in tow. "Mind if you explain yourself, Itachi-kun?" The ANBU turned, facing his former commander. "The boy has a very high level of physical conditioning," he explained. "He's a weapon first and foremost. A weapon needs to keep his edge no matter what the situation."

"However I am disappointed at you otouto." Sasuke's head snapped up, shocked at the sudden rebuke from his older brother. "A ninja is supposed to be able to keep his head while in combat. Had this been a real battle situation, you and Haruno-san would have most likely gotten yourself killed."

"Try not to be so careless, Sasuke-kun."

The younger Uchiha turned from his brother, to the rapidly approaching form of the blonde genin, who had just then completed his first lap. His face transitioned from surprise to cold fury, and back again. The boy clenched his fists and stalked off, leaving a gaping Sakura in his wake.

* * *

Kakashi watched his two students wander off, his one eye watching the blonde genin run his fourth lap. Naruto hadn't broken a sweat yet, which was an amazing feat considering that he beat the number one and the number two rookies in the academy. He looked at Itachi from the corner of his single eye. Then again, was this really that big of a surprise? 

"What where you thinking back there, Itachi-kun?"

The elder Uchiha refused to reply, his eyes rooted to watching his charge complete his sixth lap. The boy was halfway through his seventh when Kakashi asked him again, this time with a slight tone of irritation recognizable only to those who knew the cycloptic jounin well. Itachi sighed.

"Sasuke refused to coordinate with his teammate…" Kakashi cut him off.

"You know perfectly well that that's not the issue."

Itachi grunted. Perhaps forcing that Haruno girl to fight alongside Sasuke wasn't the smartest idea. But then could he really have expected his brother to be able to fight against Naruto on level ground?

Or was it that he didn't trust his brother enough to be able to do so?

* * *

Kakashi looked at the retreating form of the blonde genin, already halfway through his twelfth lap. The jinchuuriki was a lot better trained than he had expected, perhaps even at par with his own skill back in the old days. That's saying a lot considering that the Copy Ninja became chuunin at age six, jounin at twelve. 

Yes. Hatake Kakashi could see enormous potential oozing out from young Naruto. Looking at the Hokage monument looming over the horizon, he wondered if his old jounin-sensei would have wanted the boy's fate to end up like this. A heartless weapon in the service of his home village. Part of him felt that the council had forever insulted the Yondaime's memory in their decision to raise the Uzumaki boy this way.

* * *

"Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!" 

Uchiha Sasuke pounded on the tree until his knuckles began to flow crimson. Ignoring the pain, he continued to mercilessly beat at the trunk until his arms were held back by someone from behind. His head snapped around, Sharingan activated, and Sakura was driven back by the sheer force of her teammate's glare.

"What in the hell has gotten into you Sasuke-teme!" Sakura screamed. "Keep losing your head like that and you'll wind up in six feet under the ground!" Sasuke breathed hard, his fists still dripping with blood.

"How the hell can you understand what I'm going through?" he spat. "You can't possibly understand what that orange-clad bastard did to me!" Sakura's anger ebbed away, noticing for the first time the tear-stained face of Uchiha Sasuke. She never remembered her teammate ever crying, so she knew this was a serious issue.

Sakura wrapped her arms around Sasuke's body just as the sobbing began again. Involuntarily, the boy began to collapse against the smaller kunoichi, buckling his knees as the waves of tears began to fall against his teammate's pink locks.

Sakura kissed him on the cheek, whispering soothing words as Sasuke's tears continued to fall. "I'm sorry," she whispered, kissing him again. "You don't need to tell me anything until you're ready."

When he had calmed down a bit more, Sakura had reached in her utility pouch and found the roll of bandages she kept for such a situation. Wrapping his fingers, she proceeded to hum a haunting melody that somehow made Sasuke's tears all the more bearable.

The Uchiha flexed his fingers, noting the slight discomfort when he bent his knuckles. His eyes were still bloodshot. It was out of the question for them to return now, especially after that little scene in the clearing.

"Sakura?"

"Yes?"

"Would you tell Kakashi-sensei that I had to go home? I'm not feeling very well."

Sakura nodded. She understood. Hugging her teammate goodbye, she sprinted back to the training area where Itachi, Kakashi and their new teammate waited for them. Sasuke watched her leave for a while before he took his secret shortcut to the Uchiha compound.

It was still a bit too early to be homse from training, so Sasuke had to climb a drainpipe to get to his third floow room. Once there, he pulled in the shades and climbed in his covers, seeking the refuge that only sleep could provide right now.

**

* * *

**

**Subchapter: Naruto and Ramen**

Kakashi led his genin cell, plus Uchiha Itachi, down to Konoha village and into the restaurant district. On impulse he decided to treat his team to lunch, but came to his senses long enough to direct the trio to the Ichiraku ramen stand.

"A Kakashi-san! Great to see you back!"

"Yo."

The group sat down on the stools, acknowledging the presence of one Ichiraku Teuchi with a polite wave. Sakura declined to be served anything, claiming to be on a diet. Kakashi grinned under his mask. That leaves him paying for his own order, Naruto's and Itachi's.

This could turn out to be a better day than he thought.

Once Kakashi told the cook to prepare meals for all of them besides Sakura, he caught Itachi repressing a giggle. He asked what was so funny.

"Are you sure you're up to paying for lunch?"

"Yes. Why shouldn't I be?"

"You'll see."

Kakashi shrugged and turned from the pair. He was about to discover the physics of eating noodles without taking off his mask when he started hearing loud slurping from three chairs to his right. He looked to see Naruto devouring his _sixth_ bowl of ramen, spraying miso soup on a very startled Sakura. How in the hell was it even possible to eat that quickly? He glanced at the pink-haired kunoichi, who was suddenly very glad she didn't order anything. Just watching the blonde pack it away was more than enough to discourage anyone from eating anything.

Itachi had a smug expression as he sipped his tea, having pushed his bowl over to where Naruto can safely inhale the noodles in peace. Had he not been wearing a mask in the first place, everyone would have seen Kakashi's very impressive imitation of a fish.

"Itachi-kun?"

"I'm not paying for lunch, sempai."

"I can't afford this on my salary! You're the one inheriting a fortune here!"

"Hey you offered to pay, so pay."

Kakashi buried his head in his hands, silently mourning the fate of his wallet. Glancing to where Naruto devoured his _eleventh_ bowl, he wept for next month's paycheck as well. Meanwhile Teuchi was silently rejoicing. He recognized the boy as the Kyuubi vessel, but if anyone can eat that much ramen in one sitting, he really didn't care about him being a demon or anything.

* * *

A/N: What, you didn't really expect me to write a fic about a Naruto that doesn't like ramen did you? Come on, this may be AU but nothing can be _that_ AU.

Anyway.

I'm going to be doing some research on the internal martial arts. Thanks to Jess D and Lepus Iratus (I'm going to take a guess that the third internal martial art is Tai Ji Quan. I don't really know much about Chinese fighting styles really. I'm more of a mixed martial arts person myself.) for giving the inspiration to use those things. There's going to be a lot of turmoil between Naruto, Sasuke and the entire Uchiha clan. Oh that's right. Itachi didn't slaughter them all in this fic. At least not yet.

Oh my. The foreboding.

I'm not so sure what else will change in this fic, but rest assured that the snake pedophile will still be here. Kisame will still have a partner, but I'm not telling on who it'll be. You will be so surprised I'm sure.

Have fun reading true believers. zero0000 out.


	5. Satsuki

**Satsuki**

"These papers seem to be in order. Proceed."

The woman with the enormous fan took the registration papers from the guard and walked off with her two companions. The trio were ninja from the Sand, emmissaries of the Wind Country for the upcoming chuunin exams. Needless to say the drastic change of climate from the dusty deserts of Suna to the tropical forests of Konoha was unsettling for the three shinobi.

"How can anyone stand this humidity, eh Gaara?" she quipped. Receiving no response, she turned to find her red-headed little brother had already wandered off somewhere, leaving her with her idiot brother Kankuro. Temari cursed under her breath.

Boys.

"Watch where you're going, brat!" The blonde kunoichi sighed again. She walked over to where Kankuro had knocked over a little boy. _Figures he would waste his time picking on little kids_, she said to herself. By now Kankuro had lifted the boy up by the collar, and the child was being very vocal.

"Let go of me you bastard!"

"Che! You should learn to respect your betters, brat!"

"Show me who's my betters and I'll respect them all right!"

"Why you little," the kabuki-make up wearing genin wound back his arm in preparation for a punch when a kunai sliced through the air and nicked his face, forcing him to drop the boy. Temari followed the trajectory of the projectile and her eyes came to rest upon a dark haired youth twirling a kunai in his finger.

"My," she quipped as a pink-haired kunoichi dropped from a tree. "Looks like you've successfully pissed of the locals, Kankuro." The other Sand sibling wiped the blood running down his cheek and glared at his sister before turning his attention at the stalwart who attacked him. "Sasuke-niisan and Sakura-neechan!" the boy yelled. The pair acknowledged him with a nod. It was obvious they knew the boy.

"You're foreign shinobi, right?" the raven-haired genin asked. "Didn't your Kage ever tell you not to cause diplomatic incidents in foreign soil? 'Cause from what I remember this is the kind of thing that started most of the wars in the Elemental nations."

"Unless you're looking to get hurt, you should mind your own business, kid!" Kankuro seethed, letting his bundle drop from his back and into his waiting arm. Temari smiled and reached for her fan. Things were getting interesting after all.

"Konohamaru, you should leave," Sakura said, and the boy willingly complied. In her mind she worked out possible strategies against the pair of shinobi. She had no combat experience against Suna shinobi, and neither did Sasuke. In her book this counted as a major disadvantage. The kunoichi grit her teeth. Looks like they'll have to wing it…

* * *

The redhead with the gourd on his back turned his head at the massive amount of killing intent being channeled. He was familiar with such a move, having used it a couple of times before. But not at this scale. Concentrating his chakra, a swirl of sand enveloped him and transported him instantly where the battle would have been.

He reappeared hanging upside down from a tree. What he saw surprised him. His two siblings were down on their knees, a look of fear plastered on their faces. A pair of Konoha genin was there as well, surprise on their faces at the state of their opponents. Then, he saw _him_.

A blonde with an expressionless look on his face was staring down his teammates, his eyes dead blue rhinestones in pools of white. A set of three military policemen had surrounded him with drawn weapons, obviously hesitating to attack.

"Kankuro," A tear streaked face turned to face him, mascara running down his face in rivulets of purple. "Temari," he whispered, addressing the blonde kunoichi who was shaking like the very devil. The two Leaf genin holstered their kunai and turned to him. The raven-haired one spoke.

"Those your teammates?"

"Hn."

"Tell them not to mess with the people of Konoha again."

Sabaku no Gaara watched them walk away, leaving his two siblings on the ground. The blonde with dead eyes continued watching them until, satisfied, he pushed through the a gap between the three military policemen and made his own exit. The redhead raised a hairless eyebrow at the scene before he turned to his siblings.

"Just what in the seven hells happened here?"

* * *

"F-f-f-f-f-FUCK!"

Kankuro was shaking in his seat, unable to even hold the mug of tea in his hands without spilling its scalding contents. Temari had finally stopped crying, and was sleeping off the tears in the suite's common room. Baki had arrived half an hour before and was questioning the afternoon's events.

Gaara was at his usual spot, leaning at the wall. "I found them like this. Looked like they even pissed their pants."

"I did not wet my pants!" Kankuro protested, but thought better when Gaara's stony glare kept him in his seat. "We had everything handled, see. But then this blonde kid…" Gaara interrupted.

"The one with dead blue eyes?"

"Y-yeah. That's the one," Kankuro managed. "He did something, like an advanced bloodline limit. His eyes went all red and suddenly me and Temari were on the ground and shaking like the shit!" The puppet user turned to face his little brother, a pleading look in his eyes "Gaara, I don't want to have to face up against that guy in the chuunin exams! I just don't! I don't care what you think of me, I'll forfeit if his name is called with mine!"

"Calm down you imbecile," Baki said. "Our data on Konoha bloodlines never mentioned any doujutsu capable of refining pure killing intent and firing it over a long distance. What you're saying is impossible."

"Yes," Gaara replied, stroking his chin. "And there's still the issue of the both of you thoroughly embarrassing the Sand during this little encounter of yours." Kankuro turned his face down at the unspoken rebuke. "Still, we must be wary of this blonde genin."

"Baki." The jounin turned.

"Find me all the data this hick town has on this blonde fellow. He seems more interesting than most of the shinobi I've seen so far," Gaara said. "Don't give me a reason to kill you when you fail."

"Hai," Baki breathed, blurring out of the room.

"Now," the sand user said, turning to his brother. "I want you to describe to me in detail exactly what he did and what it did to you."

* * *

"Uchiha-teicho, there was an incident in the square."

Police Captain Uchiha Fugaku turned in his swivel chair to face his subordinate, waving a hand for him to continue. The policeman detailed the events of the afternoon, all the way to when Team Seven had come to the rescue of the Sandaime's grandson.

Fugaku steepled his fingers, a look of concentration on his face. The Kyuubi-gakki again. Even after he specifically told Itachi to keep the brat on a short leash, this happens. "Sir?" the subordinate asked.

"That will be all, Inabi. Dismissed."

The policeman saluted and left the room. It hadn't been a few minutes when a shadowy figure stepped out from the darkened area of the room.

Fugaku acknowledged him with a formal salute. "Otokage-sama," he said. "I wasn't expecting you this early." The man waved him off and took a seat in one of the plush chairs in the office. "Fugaku-kun, why so formal?" the Shodaime Otokage said. "You know very well we're on a first name basis in private."

"Hai, Orochimaru-san."

Orochimaru nodded in approval. Still a bit stuffy, but getting there. "I was not aware you were making an appearance at the station. Had you informed me I would have tightened security in the area--" The sannin interrupted before the police captain could finish.

"I go where I please and it pleases me to go here."

"Hai, of course."

Orochimaru walked over the bookshelf and fingered a few decorated scrolls. "I assume that everything from your end is arranged?" Fugaku sat back down and busied himself with paperwork.

"Of course. We only await your signal, Orochimaru-san."

"Good. Our allies from the Sand have also arrived. Methinks this will be a rather interesting batch of chuunin examinees, ne?" Orochimaru cackled. "Which reminds me, your son Sasuke is entering this time isn't he?"

"Hai, Orochimaru-san. His first attempt. Though I doubt if he will match Itachi."

"An Itachi he is not, Fugaku-kun. But does one really need two traitors in the clan?"

The police captain's fists clenched, the only visible sign of his anger. Orochimaru continued. "I'll tell you what, after this exam is over bring him to my headquarters. I'll be more than happy to train him personally."

"Such generosity. I am afraid—" Orochimaru cut him off again.

"I am afraid you overestimate my virtues Fugaku-kun," the snake specialist said. "I will use your son for my own purposes, like you used him all his life. Only I will be honest enough to tell him up front. Not to worry, Fugaku-kun. He will be receiving training from a Sannin. That alone should be motivation enough for you to accept."

Fugaku remained silent. This was not part of the original bargain, but it was not entirely unworkable. He will play this game for what it was. And then, when the time is right, he will strike down this annoying bastard with the power he would have gained.

* * *

A/N: Whoo! Finally an update! Am I even still welcome here? For a minute there I thought I'd lost track of where this story had gone. In case you were wondering what the hell took this update so long, well, I had some dental work done and a couple of bouts with writer's block.

Oh and did I mention that I had my finals just a few days ago?

Anyway, I'm doing things a bit different from the canon ("No duh!" says the rest of the world) and one of these things involves what kind of rift developed between Itachi and the Uchiha clan. In the anime he was portrayed as being the perfect older brother to Sasuke, oftentimes disregarding clan authority to show how much he cared for his little brother.

The clan didn't think too highly of him disregarding his clan duties to focus on important stuff like family (and you wonder why he slaughtered his clan), so the rift between Itachi and the clan grew wider and wider. With the clan not being killed off and all, it provides some points of interest which I will immediately exploit to further this plot.

Anyway, to everyone who reviewed, I hope you like this installment of the CBM series and I ask that you please continue giving me all your wonderful feedback. Well, off I go to brush my braces.


	6. Burdens and Betrayals

**Burdens and Betrayals**

"Check."

Itachi contemplated his next move as Kakashi sipped his tea. Though how his sempai did that with a mask on still boggled the Uchiha's mind. The pair was sitting in the park, enjoying a game of shogi. There was very few people present, probably because it was high noon and most of the residents of Konoha are in their houses sheltered from the tropical heat.

Aside from being one of the most feared members of ANBU, Itachi was known as an accomplished shogi player, understandable since command of your own cell required a certain amount of strategy. The Copy Ninja broke the silence first.

"What's your next move, Itachi-kun?"

"If I were to tell you that, it'd ruin the game."

"That's not what I meant, damn it."

Itachi closed his eyes, the bothering pain in his head acting up again. "You realize this is Eyes Only information."

"I think I still have clearance enough for that," his former commander said. Itachi took a sip of his tea and nodded.

"Project Nine was created to serve as a living weapon to be used to augment the military might of Konoha," Itachi explained. "The Sandaime's directives clearly stated that Uzumaki Naruto be trained in the manner of ANBU, thus increasing his coercive potential much more than if he were trained in the academy."

"A living weapon…"

"Affirmative."

"I wonder sometimes…"

"About what, sempai?"

Kakashi trained his eyes on the board as Itachi lay the next tile. "If this was indeed the best course of action for his life I mean," the copy nin said offhandedly, placing another tile on the board. Itachi's onyx eyes bore down his brown ones as the tension between them grew.

"I was under orders."

"Is that all your life is going to be worth, Itachi-kun?"

"I don't know what you mean, sempai."

"All I've heard from you every time we discuss Naruto are your damn orders and directives. Is that all your life is worth, following orders whose effects and repercussions are beyond your sight?" Kakashi's eyes narrowed as Itachi lay the next tile. He was six moves from defeat.

"I'm asking you Itachi. For once in your life look beyond the orders and see what's underneath the underneath. Look for yourself what all of this has done to the boy."

Kakashi was taken aback as his protégé started chuckling. He asked what was so funny and Itachi replied with "I'm surprised you didn't see it sooner. You of all people know that there are people in this village who would be more than happy to see him dead. I know what I'm doing, sempai."

"What you're doing is throwing him neck deep in a battle of politics."

"A battle he will have to fight anyway."

"He isn't ready for this! Not at his age!"

"You think I don't know that!" Itachi roared. "You think I don't know that the kid is in over his head!" Kakashi remained impassive, allowing the younger shinobi to continue. "I am very well aware of the fact that Naruto will be facing forces far more powerful than a child his age fucking should be! I'm very much aware that the people in this village don't even want to see him alive, let alone trust him enough to do the job he was born to do!"

Itachi was shaking with rage, so much so that he reached across the table and grabbed the jounin by the collar. "I'm also very well aware that he may be facing off against my clan," he breathed. "Even I have trouble in that department. Nobody deserves that fate, Hatake. What I'm doing is giving him a fighting chance."

Kakashi was dropped to his seat just as the other ninja slammed the last tile on the board. "Check and mate," Itachi barked. "If you kept your attention on the game instead of your pointless psychobabble, you might have lasted longer than thirty moves." With that, the ANBU left to move.

…Only to bump into one pink-haired kunoichi. Sakura plopped down to the grass and the ANBU excused himself before storming off. Kakashi stared at his student intently as she rubbed her aching gluteus maximus.

"Well?"

"Kakashi-sensei! Naruto's been attacked!"

At that statement the ANBU's head snapped back, one word escaping from his lips.

"What!"

* * *

_Flashback, twenty-five minutes ago…_

A blur of blonde hair dodged a volley of kunai, deftly evading each projectile with serpentine grace. Sasuke with his Sharingan powered could barely keep up, let alone predict them. Naruto was moving faster and smoother than what he showed on their sparring match, and for the life of him the raven-haired genin couldn't figure out how.

Though the trio of raging Uchiha policemen should have tipped him off.

"Hold still, Kyuubi-teme! We'll charge you with resisting arrest for this!" one cried, drawing a couple of seals and firing a quick Ryuuka jutsu, singeing the air just above the genin's head as another Uchiha closed in for a hit, doubling the boy over. Sakura cried out as the third policeman drew ninja wire from his pack, and launched them with windmill shuriken.

"**Sharingan Soufuusha Sannotachi!**" (Sharingan Windmill Triple Blade)

The windmill shuriken circled around, closing the loops of wire around the blonde genin. A puff of smoke revealed a sliced log in his place, Naruto reappearing behind the offending Uchiha and landing a heavy boot in his back.

The policeman grunted with the impact and rode the blow, lessening the damage as he rolled forwards. The other two stood at the ready with drawn kunai as Naruto dropped into a stance of his own. Sasuke deactivated his doujutsu and called out to his teammate.

"Sakura! Get Kakashi-sensei!"

"Wh-what?"

"Hurry! Naruto can't handle much more of this any longer!"

Sakura nodded her assent and sped off as Sasuke took his place behind his teammate with a drawn kunai. "What?" one of the policemen taunted "the younger brother joining the older in his treachery?" The blonde edged closer to the genin, using the width of his body to block any possible assault from the front as Sasuke faced his six, powering up his Sharingan. "I know where my loyalties lie," the raven-haired genin said.

A loud thud erupted in the air as the flat end of Sasuke's kunai drove itself into blonde spikes. Naruto could only look on helplessly as the three policemen tied him up with ninja wire. The highest ranking one laughed.

"I never knew you had it in you, Sasuke-kun!"

"Hn. Now take him away."

Sasuke looked as they dragged Naruto's form away. He stared at the kunai in his hand and dropped it in the ground as if he could not stand to touch it. The genin knew that no ninja was supposed to turn his back on his teammate, let alone betray them. But ever since he landed that lucky blow on Naruto's head, something was bubbling up from the very depths of his being.

Elation.

Strangely enough, where he should have felt dirty at his treachery, he felt…ecstatic. A sinister smile formed on his lips as Sasuke savored his victory. The silent observer in the shadows of the overhead canopy didn't suppress his smile as well, noting how quickly the boy reacted to his inborn hatred of the jinchuuriki.

Uzumaki Naruto. He didn't expect to meet him this soon.

No matter. This would only serve to complicate things, but not by much. The figure detached himself from the shadows as he trailed Sasuke's walk through the streets. He waited until the boy rounded a pre-determined corner before he covered ground quickly and efficiently, blending into the shadows as a minor stealth jutsu masked him in the background. It was too late by the time Sasuke saw him. The figure opened his mouth wide, exposing razor sharp canines.

Sasuke's scream was heard for three blocks.

* * *

A/N: Just so you know, I don't play shogi and I don't have the patience to learn.

Anyway.

What the hell was that that bit Sasuke? Will he get rabies now? For all the training Itachi gave him Naruto was just to bloody trusting wasn't he? And since when was Kakashi a psychology major?

Hello everyone. Me again. Sorry for the short chappie. I was kind of hoping to create a progression between Sasuke's turning to the Darkness (THUNDER! LIGHTNING! BOMBASTIC LATIN CHORUS!) on account of his hatred towards Naruto. I had someone ask a question if Sasuke's going to take the side of his clan or his brother. In this situation, he was with the family.

What I'm really wondering is how the emotional and moral turmoil Sasuke's putting himself into. How will he react should his brother take Naruto's side instead of his clan? How much of an outcast is Itachi anyway? And why the hell is this fic turning Uchiha-centric?

Well, worry not true believers. Rest assured that one of these weeks I'll be putting a Naruto-centric (perhaps even a Sakura-centric one) chapter and have him define his motivations besides orders and training. Orochimaru is still missing-nin, FYI. In this world, he's still leader of Hidden Sound. The world of politics in this world comes down to the power struggles between certain elements in Konoha and some others from outside. I hope to shed light on all of these topics shortly. Still no pairings, but lately I feel I may change my mind. No yaoi or shounen ai by the way.

Anyway, thanks for reading the fic 'til now. Kami-sama, 16.5K hits!Hope you guys like this chapter and the next few ones. Hopefully we'll be getting to the chuunin exam arc in a few weeks, but for now let's stick with this rescue arc shall we?


	7. Rescue

**Rescue**

The three ninja arrived to find the clearing littered with kunai and singe marks from fire jutsu. Catching her breath, Sakura looked around and exclaimed "there's nobody here!" Itachi cursed under his breath. "Where the hell are you?"

"Itachi-kun! I found Sasuke!"

The ANBU turned to find the Kakashi carrying his little brother's limp form. He gave him the once over and found a strange mark on Sasuke's neck. "What's that on Sasuke-kun's neck?" Sakura asked.

Itachi's fingers touched the mark briefly, examining its design. It was nothing he ever saw before. "We should have a medic look at him before we head out," he said finally. Kakashi shook his head saying "Come on, Naruto needs our help."

Hoisting the genin around his shoulders in a fireman's carry, the jounin took out a scroll and bit his thumb. Forming his hands in a couple of seals, Kakashi slammed his palm in the text and a plume of smoke erupted from as he completed the summoning jutsu. A small dog appeared as the mist cleared. "Hey boss," it barked. "Long time no see."

"No time to explain Pakkun. I need you to track a student of mine."

"Sure thing boss. Got anything that belonged to him?"

Itachi picked up a couple of blonde strands that got caught on a branch and held them up. "Yup, those'll do!" Pakkun said as he trotted over to smell the strands. Sakura swiveled her head to look at several bushes to her left.

"Naruto-kun…"

* * *

The jinchuuriki was dreaming. 

It wasn't anything new. He had nightmares before. The only problem being that nearly all of his nightmares weren't twisted versions of his psyche, but memories of his own past. In his mind's eye Uzumaki Naruto found himself reliving some of the brutal missions he had to undertake as ANBU trainee.

There was no rest for the wicked.

* * *

"_So Uchiha-san," Mizuki seethed. "Does the Sandaime really think it necessary to send someone of your caliber to dispatch someone like me?"_

"_Actually no," came the response. "I'm only here as mission handler," Itachi explained. "This execution will actually be handled by someone else." The traitor laughed, clutching the scroll of forbidden jutsu in the bloody ruin of his left hand._

_A ten-year old blonde walked out from behind Itachi, a cold glare coming from his eyes. "You can't be serious! You mean to say you'll have this child face off against a chuunin?" Naruto's answer came in the form of his drawing an eight-inch curved blade from a scabbard in his belt. Mizuki spat and grinned._

"_Very well. If Hokage-sama wishes to sacrifice a child, so be--"_

_The traitor never finished his sentence. The third part of a wakizashi blade protruded from the upper regions of his upper vertebrae, the hilt and the hand that held it embedded in his throat. The chuunin stared in disbelief. His body was racked with spasms as Itachi's protégé ripped out his weapon forcibly, spraying a mist of blood and cerebro-spinal fluid in the air._

_He saw his reflection in the quickly darkening pool of blood. His face was covered in the fluid, but his eyes were the slitted reds of a demon lord…_

* * *

Naruto woke up in cold sweat. He had lived through four years of these nightmares and kami-sama knows he was more than used to them. He looked around and saw that he was in a holding cell of some kind, the size of which suggested that it was built for solitary confinement. He was also dressed rather scantily, as his parka and jacket were taken away, leaving only his black tank top and his boxer shorts. 

From the look of the steel-reinforced wooden door, he concluded that he was not brought to the maximum security facility, but instead to the small jailhouse in Konoha's military police HQ.

Small thanks, but you take what you're given.

Taking a quick inventory of himself, the genin was pleased to find no major injuries. He was reduced to ninety-five percent combat effectivity, but nothing a couple of days of bed rest wouldn't cure.

Was this a sanctioned capture operation? Or did the policemen act on their own without the Hokage's permission? Should the latter be true, he was given authorization to use deadly force to protect himself and any noncoms he might encounter. But if the previous was true there would be no rescue for him. Deciding that the matter needed more thought, Naruto put it out of his mind.

Naruto's training taught him only to think in terms of orders and directives. If his sensei ordered him to do something, he did it immediately without question. The same if it was the Hokage who did so. Most of his life was lived under the strict guidance of ANBU directives (technically, he was still genin, but since his training was mostly ANBU procedure, the same guidelines applied).

But all this was changing. When he fought against Sakura-san and Sasuke-san, he glimpsed an odd relationship between the two he was unfamiliar with. It wasn't simply teamwork, which he had a lot of experience with. It was similar, yet not identical to how Itachi-sensei looked at his brother. Once upon a time an ANBU explained that it was called friendship.

Friendship.

It was true Naruto had comrades and teammates from the ANBU corps, but he also realized he never ever had a connection with any of them the way Sasuke-san and Sakura-san did. This was something to consider if he was to work with his cell more effectively. Perhaps he'd ask Itachi-sensei about it.

Itachi-_san_. Kakashi was his sensei now, he realized.

Moving quickly, Naruto settled into a few katas of the Hakke (Eight Trigrams). It was similar to Jyuuken, he was told, thought Itachi-san's scrolls taught him that it was originally a separate and distinct taijutsu in Kirigakure no Sato before the Hyuuga founders customized it to take advantage of their doujutsu's potential.

The genin flowed into the stances, letting his mind wander as his muscle memory moved in sync with textbook maneuvers. Would his cell come for him? Sasuke-san showed him a lot of animosity, just as Itachi-san predicted he would. He was still not sure of Sakura-san and Kakashi-sensei.

Naruto's body flowed into the dance of the maneuvers, his body moving on its own accord as he continued to let his thoughts drift. Should he be let out, he decided to give this friendship thing a try. There was nothing to lose, and from what he heard ninja who were on the same team and at the same time friends oftentimes functioned more in concert in battle, thereby increasing their combative potential.

Stopping mid-stance, the blond dropped to the floor and did one-handed pushups. He was on his fiftieth when a loud ruckus erupted from outside his cell. He picked himself from the floor and listened intently to the sounds of the battle. Deciding that this was evidence enough that this was not a sanctioned capture operation, Naruto's fingers danced across several seals.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**"

* * *

The reception area of the police station was littered with badly injured law enforcement officers. Sakura gulped, amazed at the amount of damage a jounin and an ANBU can create together. Kakashi's face was again buried in his Icha Icha while Itachi was searching the reception desk for the jail keys. The Uchiha knew he'd be catching hell with his father later, but he could always say he was under orders from the Hokage. 

"Muhon-nin…" (traitor)

The raven-haired ninja turned to see a policeman sprawled on the floor, both his legs broken. Itachi recognized him as a distant uncle, Uchiha Inabi. The policeman's Sharingan was on, three tomoe glaring with anger at his nephew. "Hello, uncle," Itachi said dryly. "Nice day to start a brawl isn't it?"

"How can you sleep at night knowing you've betrayed your clan?"

"I close my eyes and lose consciousness. Does that answer your question?"

"Teme…."

"As pleasant as this chat is uncle," Itachi stated "I have a student to break out of jail. Say hello to auntie for me. Tell her I miss her cooking." The ANBU walked over to the door, and as he was about to insert the key, he felt the distinct chakra flare of a fire jutsu about to go off point blank. Itachi closed his eyes and braced himself for the impact…

"**Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu!**" (Fire Style, Grand Fireball)

"Itachi-sensei!"

"Itachi, watch out!"

The resulting explosion rocked the station.

* * *

It took an entire thirty seconds for the smoke to clear enough for any of them to see anything. 

Sakura tentatively opened her eyes, and upon seeing a mass of blonds in front of her she gasped. A wall of shadow clones stood in front of Itachi beside a shattered door, singe marks decorating their bodies. They exploded out of existence and left behind a very haggard Naruto dressed only in a badly ripped tank top and equally grungy boxer shorts, the sight of which made the kunoichi turn around with a furious blush on her cheeks.

"Ano…" Sakura said tentatively "can Naruto-kun get some clothes on first?"

* * *

A/N: Yes I'm back to using one-word titles. Naruto kind of looks a bit more ripped and toned than your average twelve-year old on account of his ANBU training, hence Sakura's reaction. Ah, youth and all its out of control hormones. Rest assured that this will not lead to a NaruSaku, Nixon knows there are enough of those already. 

Ahem.

Next chapter's gonna focus on the chuunin exams and maybe a revelation of the mark on Sasuke's neck. Is it the curse seal? Did he get it early in this fic (Was Sasuke bitten by a werewolf or something? Oh hell no. That would just be too weird)? Maybe. I'm certainly not telling.

Anyway, I don't think I'll be changing major events in the chuunin exams. The match ups will be the same, the only changes being how every Naruto encounter occurs. Obviously the interaction won't be the same anymore so we can expect some interesting possibilities over in that area.

Please review.


	8. Complicated

**Complicated**

The quartet ran across the rooftops to make anyone tailing them easier to spot, Itachi in the lead, followed by Kakashi and the two genin right behind. Seeing as they weren't doing anything besides running right now, Sakura thought it'd be a good opportunity to chat up her enigmatic teammate.

"Ne, Naruto-kun." The blond swiveled his head as he ran, turning his attention on his teammate. "Why were the police so hard on you? It was plenty obvious that the Sand shinobi were the ones who started the fight."

Naruto furrowed his brow. "It's…complicated, Sakura-san."

"And will you please call me Sakura? Sakura-san makes me feel so old."

"Hai, Sakura."

"Seriously, Naruto. You could do without being so uptight."

"Moshiwaka arimasen." (I'm really, seriously, very sorry)

The kunoichi shook her head and sighed. "You're hopeless, Naruto." Itachi smirked as Kakashi checked their six, seeing nobody tailing them. "Ne, Naruto." Aforementioned blonde turned his head again. "Just how in the hell were you able to fight off those policemen anyway? They're all full Uchiha, and I could barely keep up with Sasuke-kun let alone three of them."

"Let's just say he had some very capable teachers."

Sakura turned her attention to Itachi, who was exchanging a look with her jounin-sensei. What the heck were those two up to? The group switched a couple of more routes before they headed for the hospital, a good five kilometers away, but their route on the rooftops cut their travel time by half.

They made their way to Sasuke's ward along a deserted hallway. A pair of ANBU guards saluted Itachi as they went in. To their surprise the Hokage himself was waiting for them in the room as Sasuke slept. Kakashi and Itachi stood at attention while Sakura stared.

"Sandaime-sama," Kakashi said. "What brings you here?" The old man shifted in his seat, sipping a cup of tea resting on the side table. "I received word that a strange mark was found on Sasuke's neck," the Hokage said. "With Uchiha-san's permission I would like to examine it." Itachi nodded.

"Of course, Sandaime-sama."

"Thank you."

The old man's bony fingers drew the covers off Sasuke's sleeping form enough for him to see the boy's neck. He rested his eyes on the mark and grimaced. "What's wrong with Sasuke-kun, Hokage-sama?" Sakura inquired.

"Haruno-san, correct?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Please remain in the room with Sasuke. Naruto, Uchiha-san and Hatake-san have something to discuss in private."

The Hokage excused himself as the trio left the room, leaving a bewildered kunoichi in their wake. They found a deserted office belonging to one of the day shift medical ninja and went in. They hadn't sat down for a minute when the old man said "Uzumaki. Report."

The blond saluted and started to relay the succession of events in the fight, from the arrival of the Sand ninja to the battle between the Uchiha policemen. "Forgive me for my impertinence, Hokage-sama," Naruto related "but there was a point in the beginning when I was led to believe that the attack on my person was a sanctioned capture procedure."

The Hokage waved his hand dismissively. "Nobody blames you, Naruto. Itachi, what's your analysis on your clan's seeming interest in your young ward?" The ANBU captain wavered for a moment before he regained his composure.

"I have reason to believe they consider Uzumaki as a threat," he said finally "As to why, that I have yet to understand." Kakashi considered his former subordinate's comment but said nothing. Instead he directed a question to the Hokage. "Sir, about Sasuke's mark."

"Ah yes. About that. I've seen it before."

The cycloptic jounin blinked. "Forgive my being forward sir, but where would you have seen such a mark?" The Sandaime looked at him. "You were ANBU captain then, weren't you?" Kakashi's single eye opened wide.

"No." Itachi's gaze narrowed. He was familiar with the story too.

"Orochimaru's curse seal."

Nearly a decade ago one of the Sandaime's cell was arrested for conducting heinous human experiments involving genetic modifications and forbidden seal development. Orochimaru had long since disappeared, having long hidden away to a yet undisclosed location. The hunt for the former Konoha ninja still continues.

Kakashi rested a hand under his chin. "If Orochimaru is involved, this will complicate things." The Hokage nodded. "Yes but we must consider our priorities first. If the Sand are not placated immediately we may have a diplomatic incident on our hands." Naruto bore his eyes on the old man.

"Sir they initiated the attack. If anyone is going to fear a diplomatic incident it should be them."

The old man acknowledged his point with a nod. "I am aware of that Naruto. But we cannot discount the possibility that Orochimaru may be using this incident to his advantage if left unchecked." The genin's dead blue eyes just stared.

"Permission to be dismissed, Hokage-sama."

"Granted."

The trio watched the boy leave, and when the blond was outside the Hokage asked "Kakashi, how do you find young Naruto' skill?" The Copy Ninja blinked when the Hokage and Itachi directed their gaze upon him.

"I'll say this for him," the jounin said "he certainly has what it takes to be chuunin." The old man sipped his tea. "I can remember you saying that about Sasuke not too long ago," he commented.

Kakashi picked up his porno and started reading. "Sasuke is a prodigy among genin, that much is still true," he said "but Naruto was exposed to situations most ninja aren't even subjected to on a regular basis. Sometimes I fear that this may be too much for any one mind to handle before he snaps totally."

"Are you bringing up this issue again, sempai?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Itachi-kun."

The Sandaime noted the growing tension between the two and intervened immediately. "It was my call, Kakashi. At the time it was the only thing to stop the village council from killing the boy outright. They still respect my authority after all."

"_If only outwardly"_ Itachi didn't say. The trio continued sipping their tea in silence.

* * *

Naruto exited the room in silence and closed the door. He had not made it very far when he stopped and called out "I know you're hiding here. What do you want?" A figure stepped out from the shadows. He was the red-headed genin from Sunagakure, and was carrying a giant gourd on his back. His eyes were lined with what looked like black liner and he had a red kanji symbol for "love" on the upper left side of his forehead.

The two stared each other down for a few moments, soulless green eyes meeting intense blue. "I don't know who you are," the redhead said finally "but for some reason I have the overpowering urge to kill you."

Naruto felt the sharp rise of killing intent in the room, but he restrained his instincts momentarily as there was no direct threat aimed at him presently. "I could say the same," he said. "But I don't even know who you are."

"Sabaku no Gaara."

"Uzumaki Naruto."

There was an unspoken acknowledgement between the two. Naruto had taken down Gaara's team without so much as breaking a sweat, let alone moving. Gaara had an air of uncertainty about him, the unknown element was just too big to be discounted immediately. But both knew the other to be a formidable opponent.

Adrenaline started pumping in Naruto's veins, and his muscles started to tense involuntarily. He didn't quite understand it yet, but for some reason he had the overwhelming urge to battle this individual in front of him. He had some difficulty restraining himself and was surprised to notice his opponent struggling to do the same.

A small grin broke out on Gaara's face. Any other observer would have been frightened at this display since every time the Sand ninja smiled, he looked like he was just given permission to eviscerate someone. As the redhead turned and left, he said "remind me to kill you later."

The Leaf genin blinked at the retreating figure, uncertain of how to respond. Then, deciding he hadn't the time to think on such frivolities, headed down the deserted hallways to Sasuke's room.

* * *

A/N: Okay I know I said this chapter was supposed to be on the chuunin exams. The thing is I couldn't really expect to begin the exam arc without satisfactorily closing this one. Plus I just had to have a GaaNaru encounter.

I realize it may be a bit OOC for Gaara to behave like that, but I tried to put in how he would react to a person who seems to be exactly like him. In the canon he reacted this way to Sasuke, only on a more homicidal level.

Expect a lot of tension now between Gaara and Naruto. Don't expect any yaoi developments between the two though. Hopefully by the next post I can get something about the chuunin exams in, if only to finally get the bloody Sound/Leaf attack under way.

Maybe you're wondering if the Uchiha will be participating in that skirmish. Well, I don't really know right now, truth be told. Maybe we could work something out. Though the interesting thought should be "will the Uchiha get slaughtered _if_ they participate on the side of Sound?"

Boy that would have been ironic. Itachi didn't kill his clan because on the night he was supposed to he got new mission orders from the Hokage and six years later he up and does just that. (I may just write that fic…)

To everyone who reviewed/read and followed along with this story so far, thanks a lot and hope you can be with me until the next chapter. I couldn't have been motivated to continue this series without your support.


	9. Rookies

**Rookies**

"Please let us through! We need to take the exams!"

The chuunin with spiky hair slapped the girl in the Chinese shirt to the ground, to the ire of the genin in the hallway. The genin were ordered to send in their registration papers in room 310 in the ninja academy only to find a pair of young chuunin blocking their way.

"Do you kids really think you got what it takes to be chuunin?" the other one mocked. "Ha! Don't make me laugh! You guys wouldn't last five minutes in the test so you might as well give up!"

"Stop jerking us around," Sasuke huffed as team seven walked in the hallway with him. "We need to get to the third floor to pass in our registration forms. Why the hell are you idiots waiting in the second floor?"

"What the hell are you talking about, teme?"

"Yeah! Explain yourselves!"

The Uchiha smirked. "Morons like you who can't even see through a silly genjutsu like this shouldn't even waste their time passing in their forms. Isn't that right, Sakura-chan?" The kunoichi blinked at being acknowledged before she replied with "uh, yeah. This is still the second floor and that's not room 310."

Instantly the marker above the door reverted to 210. The spiky-haired chuunin smiled before he blurred out of existence. Sasuke anticipated the attack and struck, only to find both his kick and the chuunin's attack blocked by a boy with a bowl cut, bushy eyebrows and a ghastly green spandex bodysuit.

"Lee!" a boy with porcelain skin and pale eyes yelled. "You told us we shouldn't be attracting any attention!" Bushy-brows turned to him and said "But Neji, you know how difficult it is to contain my flames of youth! Besides I was not the only one who displayed his innate youthfulness." It was then that the others noticed Naruto standing behind the chuunin with a kunai edge pressed against the chuunin's neck. His dead blue eyes were creeping most of the crowd out except for the ninja from the Sand.

Hyuuga Neji narrowed his eyes. He barely saw the blond move, and he was able to follow Lee's movements, if only because Bushy-brows slowed his movements down. Naruto ignored the attention on him and told the chuunin to stand down. The hostage grudgingly complied and the blond lowered his kunai.

Sasuke glared. "I didn't need your help, bastard…" he muttered under his breath. The pale-eyed boy approached them and extended his hand to Sasuke. "You're Uchiha Sasuke, aren't you?" he said in a tone that impliedly proclaimed how little he thought of the number one rookie of their batch. The Uchiha glanced in his direction, noting the pale eyes.

"Who wants to know?"

"Arrogant bastard, aren't we?"

"Hn."

Naruto also noticed the pale eyes. He had heard about this clan when Itachi told him about a rescue mission that caused the death of one of the clan's elite jounin. Their bloodline was said to be related somehow to the Sharingan, but he hadn't any personal contact with it yet.

He was about to contemplate it further when the boy in spandex suddenly approached him. Naruto blinked as the boy let out a furious yell. "Uooh!" Bushy-brows cried "Such a display of youthfulness and speed! My name is Rock Lee and I challenge you to face me in single combat!"

Naruto just stared.

Unfortunately it only made things worse.

"Uoooh! Your response is so hip! Gai-sensei told me he once had a rival who had the same behavior as you! Perhaps you would care to be mine?" The blond didn't know how to respond to that. Then again would anybody know how?

"Pardon?"

"Uooh!"

"Damn it Lee! One more crack about youthfulness and I'll send you through the floor!"

Lee turned to address the speaker and found it to be Haruno Sakura. His eyes glazed over and the kunoichi found herself stepping back involuntarily. "Sakura-chan! How glorious that you would grace mine unworthy eyes with your presence! Perhaps we shall date?"

"No way! Your eyebrows are too scary!"

"Your cruel words wound my heart Sakura-chan!"

Sasuke couldn't take much more of this. "Hey Captain Spandex," he said "leave her alone already." The bowl-cut genin turned to Sasuke, his eyes with a glimmer of recognition.

"You are Uchiha Sasuke, aren't you?"

"Yeah? What's it to you?"

Lee's demeanor turned serious. "They say you're a genius and a prodigy with a powerful bloodline." Sasuke's onyx eyes narrowed, waiting for where this conversation would end. "I will show you that genius can never take the place of hard work. Fight me, Uchiha Sasuke!" The Uchiha raised an eyebrow.

"Tch, fine. But don't complain when you're injured. **Sharingan!**"

Sasuke's bloodline powered up, displaying two tomoe on each glaring red eye. Naruto was about to intervene when the pale-eyed boy stopped him. "This is a battle between two shinobi," Neji said. "Do not interfere."

Sakura raised her voice cheering for Sasuke. "Fight Sasuke-kun! Drive his face through the floor!" Naruto observed Lee's stance. _Konoha Tekken_, (Leaf Iron Fist) he realized. The style utilized powerful legwork and a lot of speed and power to inflict gargantuan amounts of damage. "Sasuke is at a disadvantage in this battle." Neji's eyebrow raised but waited for him to continue. Sakura however was much more vocal.

"The hell are you talking about? Sasuke's Sharingan will defeat anything!"

"The Sharingan is powerful, but it has its limits too."

Sakura tried to prod Naruto for his cryptic response but he battle between the two genin had already begun. To the kunoichi's surprise, Sasuke was knocked into the with a kick and Lee had blurred into existence right behind him.

"Do you see now?" Lee asked as he reappeared behind Sasuke's suspended form. "The Sharingan is a powerful bloodline but it is useless against a taijutsu specialist like me! Prepare to feel the full brunt of the flames of youth!" Lee's fingers started to undo the wrappings around his arms and just as he was about to move in for the kill, a toy pinwheel was thrown in his direction and both ninja slammed into the ground.

"Lee! That move is forbidden!"

The crowd turned to see a giant turtle addressing spandex boy. Without warning a blur shot forwards and knocked the boy away with a well-placed punch. The blur came to a stop and lo and behold, _another _Bushy-brows appeared! "Idiot!" Bushy-brows senior cried. "For your carelessness you will do fifty laps around Konoha when the exams are over!" Lee's tears shot out in fountains from his eyes. "I apologize Gai-sensei! I couldn't repress my youthful passion in time for me to restrain myself!

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

To everyone's horror the pair actually _hugged_ each other (while standing in a background of crashing waves and a sunset _indoors_) as they shed far too many tears for only two people. Neji slapped his own forehead. "Please. Just…kill me." The girl in the Chinese shirt giggled.

"Forehead girl!"

Sakura turned around to see a platinum blond kunoichi waving at her, accompanied by a boy in a mesh shirt and a chubby looking ninja wearing what looks like underwear as a forehead protector. "Damn you Ino-pig!" Sakura "Stop calling me that!"

"Make me, forehead girl!"

"How dare you!"

The pony-tailed boy muttered "troublesome" under his breath and the chubby ninja pulled out a bag of chips from out of nowhere and started munching. Team seven and Ino's team walked alongside each other to pass in their registrations, both kunoichi arguing all the way. The exam would begin in a few minutes and both teams hung out by the exam room to await the written exam.

Ino broke away from her tirade with Sakura and glanced at Naruto, taking note of his features. "Yo forehead girl," she whispered. "Who's that? How come I can never remember him from the academy?"

Sakura glanced at the direction she was pointing in. "Who, Naruto? He's Tsuko's replacement. He trained with Itachi-sempai for six years, that's why he never went to the academy." Ino's eyes lit up at the mention of Itachi's name.

"So he's Itachi-sama's protégé then?"

"Wait, why are you calling him…oh Kami-sama, you still have a crush on him don't you?"

Ino flushed. "Well at least I admit my schoolyard crushes instead of masquerading as a best friend!" Then it was Sakura's turn to blush. "Sh-sh-shut up Ino-pig!" the kunoichi stuttered.

"Damn Sakura, you're starting to sound like that Hyuuga girl."

Sakura was about to throw a really witty retort when the two were approached by none other than Uzumaki Naruto. "Sakura, miss," the blond said, addressing both girls "the written part of the exam is about to begin." Then he excused himself with a bow as he entered the room.

Ino watched his retreating form. "Your teammate is a little stuffy, isn't he?" Sakura just nodded, having gotten used to Naruto's odd mannerisms. Together the rookies and the other examinees entered the room to take the written exam.

* * *

A/N: Yes I know it's a boring chapter. But can anybody actually make a written test read well? I know I can't. Hey at least in this chapter I didn't interrupt anything interesting with these damn authors notes I like writing so much. 

As to how Naruto was able to identify the style Rock Lee uses, well he was trained by ANBU. Duh. Of course he has a background on the Konoha taijutsu list.

Sasuke will turn traitor. I think I don't have to tell you people why. The thing is, I tried to make Sasuke a little bit more...frustrated in this story. Bits and pieces on that in the coming chapters. OOH! I think I may have an idea who to pair up with Naruto!

Too bad you won't see any of that in this story. Later.


	10. Awakening

**Awakening**

Morino Ibiki glanced at the broken glass his comrade's entrance scattered across the floor and grimaced. _That woman's going to be the death of me_, he mused.

The number of examinees who passed the written exams was greater than the previous year, almost double. Hopefully the numbers will have dwindled by the time the one on one matches begin. The examiner took a cursory glance at the answer sheets he held in his hands and out of boredom decided to read some of them.

Most of the questions in almost all of the papers were left unanswered, with a few exceptions. The Haruno girl he was hearing so much about had full marks, which wasn't really a surprise because her academics had always been good. The Uchiha's paper had handwriting identical to one of the chuunin proctors who sat among the class. Ibiki glanced among the remaining batches of tests until his eyes came upon one name.

_Uzumaki Naruto_, he read.

From what the examiner remembered, that was the name if the boy who held the Kyuubi inside of him. He never went to the academy because he was supposed to have been taught privately by Uchiha Itachi himself. Not that it was common knowledge of course, but then again Ibiki had his connections.

The scarred jounin's eyes widened as he read the answers. And reread them again. And again. The jinchuuriki had answered every single question correctly but there was something about the way that he worded them that made the answers seem suspect. It took him a few minutes to realize that the boy's answers on some of the more technical questions were actually better and more plausible than what was written on the official correction sheet.

Morino Ibiki was _very_ impressed.

"Kami-sama," he said. He made a mental note to see Naruto's match, if only to see how the boy's ANBU training would come out in combat. Grinning like the cat that caught the mouse, he hefted the answer sheets in one palm and walked out the room, whistling as he went.

* * *

Naruto kept his eyes open, all the while making sure his chakra detecting senses were alert for any threat that might come their way. It was a basic technique in ANBU involving being able to blend your entire biological rhythm with the surroundings, thus incorporating your consciousness into the equilibrium of the immediate vicinity. Forming a couple of seals, he dispatched a crew of clones to scout the area when his teammates weren't looking. 

The team needed to find aHeaven scroll and be able to get to the tower to be able to pass the exams and move on to the next part of the test. Team seven had yet to encounter any opposition, but Naruto felt it best to be sure just the same.

He followed a short distance behind Sakura and Sasuke to make sure they had backup when they needed it. As insurance, he had three of his replicants shadow them all the way, watching their backs from hidden locations within a sixty-foot radius around them.

"Ne, Sakura."

"Yes Sasuke-kun?"

"Have you noticed that we passed the same tree three times already?"

Sakura nodded. They had been traveling in the cloak of a rather wide-area genjutsu, and probably right into the hands of another team. Naruto noticed this too and used a couple of silent signals to alert his clones to be wary of who cast the spell. It was a couple of minutes before the blond detected a slight disturbance in the air.

"Move."

"What? Naruto?"

Sasuke had already picked up on the movement and knocked Sakura aside, just as a flurry of shuriken embedded themselves on the spot where she was. Naruto's fingers were clutching bladed weapons he snatched from midair as he raced across the grass to meet up with a trio from Amagakure wearing breathing masks.

With a flick of the wrist the blond launched his projectiles. To his surprise the shuriken just went through the Rain nin, as if they weren't made of solid material. "Hasty aren't we?" one of them said as a large group of clones appeared all around them. "Give up your scroll or else we kill you."

Naruto remained silent, drawing a kunai from his pouch. Sasuke glared at the Rain nins and stood protectively over Sakura. "They're all clones," the Uchiha said. "but they didn't dematerialize even when Uzumaki struck them dead on."

"Sasuke, prepare a fire jutsu," the pink-haired kunoichi barked. "Naruto and I will go after them with ranged weapons."

The raven-haired ninja hurriedly complied as Sakura and Naruto circled him, throwing kunai, shuriken and other throwing weapons which the clones did not bother to block. When Sasuke was done charging his fire attack, he inhaled and shouted "**Katon: Housenka no jutsu!**"

A single fireball each slammed into all fifteen of the clones, reducing them into mist. "Advanced version of the water clone," Naruto breathed. "Impressive analysis, Sakura." The kunoichi raised a thumbs up. "Lucky for us Sakura's forehead contains a whole mess load of knowledge on those jutsus!" Sasuke joked, and the kunoichi slapped him playfully. "If only we knew where the originals are."

Sasuke gasped as he scanned the area with his doujutsu. "Oh crap," he exclaimed. At his words fifteen clones appeared again, each one of them mirror copies of the clones they dismembered. "You kids are impressive," one of them said. "Not many people realize that our clones are water-based. However destroying our clones doesn't mean you've destroyed us." The clone let out a sinister laugh.

"Damn."

"Sasuke-kun, what should we do?"

Naruto's mind was spinning as he tried to divine the answers. Water clones that attacked the same way as normal people shouldn't be possible and it was doubtful any of them knew Kage Bunshin. So how did these ninja accomplish this?

He was mulling this over when a silent signal came from one of his hidden replicants. The blond translated and nodded before he gave the order to strike. Sasuke and Sakura were blocking the advance of the Rain nin when suddenly all fifteen of the clones dissipated into mist. Sasuke blinked, powering down his Sharingan.

"What just happened?"

"Look."

The two followed the direction where their teammate was pointing and saw three Rain nins hanging by their necks on ninja wire. They were thrashing silently, unable to scream. At the top of the branches where they hung stood three of Naruto's Kage Bunshin. After the ninja stopped moving, the blond dispelled his clones, climbing up to fetch the scroll.

His two teammates were speechless. "H-he…" Sakura began. The Uchiha's eyes widened at the ease with which Naruto killed. His fists clenched and opened several times in an attempt to channel the tension in his body. The blond returned moments later with a second Earth scroll. The team's shock wore off quickly when they heard applause coming from somewhere.

The clapping came from a group of Sound genin, each one of them gazing admiringly at the blond ninja. "And here we were thinking that Leaf ninja were weak," the tallest one said. A brunette girl and a boy with holes in his hands smiled like predators who caught their prey. Sasuke and Sakura drew their weapons as Naruto just watched. "I like you boy," the tall one said again, pointing directly at Naruto. "Tell you what, just give us your scrolls and we'll be on our way."

"What?" Sakura raged "Why should we? Besides you need only one scroll of each to pass the exams." Naruto cocked his head. "A team can use scrolls as bargaining chips," he said simply. "The more scrolls you have the more currency you have to trade with the other teams."

Sasuke grimaced. "No way." The shorter Sound shinobi grinned evilly, aiming an open palm at the Uchiha. "You're Uchiha Sasuke right?" he mocked. "I really don't see what's so special with you. As a matter of fact, I think I can take you down!"

"Try me, you pathetic little prick!"

"Ooh. He talks the talk. Can he walk the walk?"

Without warning the three Sound ninja attacked with distance strikes, the one covered in bandages emitting some sort of sound with the instrument on his forearm as a powerful blast of air shot out of the shorter shinobi's open palm. The kunoichi from Sound blurred out of existence and slammed right into Sakura's defending kunai where the two of them locked in battle.

A warning resounded in Sasuke's mind as he dodged the Sound genin's air blasts. _Sasuke,_ Kakashi warned_ try not to use too much chakra. The seal on your neck acts like some sort of modification jutsu to change your chakra into something more dangerous. As much as you can try to focus on taijutsu alone._

He huffed. He'd been able to use the Sharingan for a little while before. And he'd been able to let out a short fire jutsu. Sasuke ignored the warning and charged up his doujutsu while his hands danced across some seals. A sharp biting pain erupted from his neck, distracting him from completing the jutsu. The brown-haired Sound genin smirked.

It was all he needed.

A powerful air blast knocked Sasuke off his feet, dragging him across a good fifteen feet of ground. He hadn't finished moving when a second air blast sent him into a state of semi-consciousness.

Meanwhile the Sound kunoichi had gained the upper hand and now held Sakura in a vise grip. The pink-haired ninja struggled in vain, the brunette having too tight a grip on her. Of the three, Naruto was having the best luck as he evaded each one of the bandaged Sound nin's attacks, all the while his hands firing quick shuriken blasts at his opponent.

"I'm impressed kid," his opponent said. "You lasted a lot longer than the Uchiha, and I expected him to be at level with me. Too bad he couldn't last against Zaku though…" Naruto dashed up a tree, forming a quick set of seals that got interrupted as a blast of air came from Zaku's open palm.

The blond evaded, each attack narrowly missing him by inches. He was actually a lot faster than this but for Sakura's sake he remained in the area, withholding his true skills. A shot from the bandaged Sound nin got lucky and hit him square in the chest, making breathing difficult. The two sound genin got closer and closer, and when they were three feet away Naruto smirked.

_Wait_, Sakura thought. _Since when did Naruto smile?_ Her questions were answered as a blinding explosion blew the pair away, leaving scorched bodies in its wake. The kunoichi looked and saw Naruto standing on the side of a tree trunk, his hands locked in a seal. "**Kage Bunshin Bakuha**," (Exploding Shadow Clone) he breathed.

The Sound kunoichi began to panic, until she realized she still had a hostage. "Listen blondie," she spat "I don't care how powerful you are, but if you fear for your friend's life you will surrender your scrolls to me." Naruto hesitated, but reached into his pouch when the girl put a kunai to Sakura's neck.

Sakura's mind went into overdrive, and as soon as the girl tried reaching out for the scrolls, she flipped the enemy kunoichi over her head and dashed away. Unfortunately the Sound kunoichi was fast and made a grab for the scrolls, running away in one smooth motion. Naruto started to chase, until a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Hold it right there Uzumaki."

Naruto turned to see Sasuke covered in strange black markings. He cursed himself for not watching if the curse seal had been activated. Sasuke shouldn't have been so careless. Sakura looked at her teammate in horror. "Which way did she go, Uzumaki."

Naruto pointed and the Uchiha grinned evilly. When Sasuke blurred out of existence, Sakura found her voice again, asking "what was that?"

"A curse seal."

"A what?"

"Can't explain now. Follow me."

Without another word, Naruto gathered chakra to his legs and leapt up a branch, intent on shadowing Sasuke's progress. Sakura shook her head in disbelief, unsure of how to respond to recent developments.

A/N: Good heavens. An interesting development of events, don't you think? Please review.


	11. Catch Me if You Can

**Catch Me if You Can**

"Will you slow down and tell me what's going on?"

The kunoichi struggled to keep up as they sprinted through the trees, her pink locks flying wildly behind her. The two of them were moving at a faster pace than she was ever used to, and they had been running, no, _flat-out sprinting_ for twenty minutes straight. Sakura estimated that they had already covered several kilometers of ground in the Forest of Death, which was probably more than any genin team could claim at the moment. All the while, she noticed several orange blurs in the horizon, which she assumed were the bunshin her teammate sent out to scout up ahead. Naruto had explained a moment before that this was why he wore orange, as it was a lot easier to follow such a loud color on his "scouts" even as they moved ever farther away.

"What abut this curse seal thing? Naruto! Speak to me!"

Naruto's pace didn't flag down as he flew through the trees. Sakura gritted her teeth as she followed, already her legs were becoming the death of her. Suddenly the blond genin stopped and stared into the distance while the kunoichi dropped on her butt on the branch they were standing in. _Great!_ Inner Sakura raged to herself. _How the hell will Sasuke find me attractive when I have the thighs of a professional wrestler?_

"Okay," Sakura huffed, trying in vain to catch her breath "no more sprinting! My thighs are killing me, damn it!" Naruto's blue eyes scanned the horizon, narrowing like he was looking at something extremely hard to see. He took a few minutes to stare straight ahead before he declared "I lost track of my clones. We're moving too slowly for us to keep up with them properly." The kunoichi glared

"So you're saying it's my fault?" The blond turned as if to consider.

"No, merely that you don't have the stamina for this kind of thing."

Sakura pouted from her seat. "That amounts to the same thing, bastard…" she muttered. Sakura refused the helping hand Naruto offered, deciding that she didn't have the strength to stand up just yet. What really surprised her was that the blond didn't even seem to be breaking a sweat, and his breathing was as level as if he just had a brisk walk. _That's it_, she decided. _This guy just isn't human…_Sakura remembered that offhand comment Kakashi-sensei made on him, about Itachi-sempai giving him personal training instead of being sent to the academy. She remembered whispered those rumors about Itachi being on the same level as the sannin, the legendary three ninja who studied under the Sandaime Hokage himself, one of which personally trained the Yondaime, the one who defeated the Kyuubi. Was this the power of Itachi's training?

Shuddering, Sakura feared the moment she would have to see Naruto's true potential. It was almost too nerve-wracking to contemplate.

The blonde swiveled his head left and right, as if he was testing the air. Suddenly, another copy of the genin appeared in front of them and saluted. "Report," Naruto barked. Kage Naruto saluted, saying "Sasuke-san and the Sound kunoichi have stopped to do battle in a clearing six hundred seventy-five point two three five meters from this location, southwest. We had trouble keeping up with them, Naruto-teicho."

"Alright." Naruto glanced at his teammate. Sakura was just picking herself up from the ground, dusting herself off. "Sakura, I need to go on ahead. I'll be moving twice as fast as we've been so far and I don't want you to waste your stamina trying to keep up."

"I'm not a helpless little girl you arrogant bastard!"

"I never said that."

"But you implied it!"

"I'm sorry but I have no time to argue with you," the blond said, preparing to launch himself through the branches. "Kage-Naruto, accompany Sakura to the clearing as soon as she's recovered." The shadow clone saluted as his master blurred out of existence. Sakura moved to stop him but a pair of strong arms restrained her.

"Damn you, bunshin-teme! Let me go!" Sakura raged, before her fatigue got to her again and she fell flat on her butt. "Sakura-san," the clone said "you have to rest. Naruto-teicho is going to be moving faster than any genin will be able to keep up with, and you need to conserve your strength for--"

"Don't you dare patronize me, you stupid mass of chakra!"

"I apologize if I meant any disrespect--"

"Just…shut up."

Sakura had finally caught her breath and was glaring daggers at the direction Naruto took off in. The clone offered his hand and she grudgingly accepted, pulling herself up. "If you really want to get there, I can accompany you," he offered. The kunoichi raised her hands in surrender, saying "fine, just as long as you don't carry meeee!"

The bunshin didn't give her a chance to protest as he picked her up in a fireman's lift and launched the two of them in the air. The kunoichi couldn't even find the voice to scream, as she found that they were traveling at a faster pace than she thought she could ever manage. The trees blurred past them until Sakura couldn't even see their details anymore, and when they accelerated even more, she found she couldn't even look ahead without tearing up. _How could a bunshin move this fast?_ She wondered to herself. "We'll be there in t-minus eight minutes, Sakura-sama," Kage Naruto said.

"Can you please slow down? My eyes are starting to hurt."

"Negative, Sakura-sama. If we do, the battle will be over when we get there."

Now Sakura was worried. She's seen first-hand what Naruto could do in a sparring match, and doubted it very highly that this was his true skill. Should he unleash his full potential in an actual fight…the kunoichi shuddered at the thought. She saw the look in Sasuke's eyes the moment he regained consciousness, and instinctively worried for the fate of the Sound kunoichi. Thought the girl had been relentlessly cruel in their earlier encounter, she didn't want the girl to get seriously hurt. "Do you know anything about what Naruto was saying earlier?" Sakura asked, surprised at the ease she had in communicating with a shadow clone. "About the curse seal?" The clone accelerated before he responded.

"Negative, Sakura-sama. But I'm sure Naruto-teicho will tell you once we get there."

"Alright. How long until we get there anyway?"

"Sixty seconds. Hold on."

The two of them stopped at the higher branches of a tree, and as the clone let down Sakura, she looked in horror at the smoking inferno raging before them.

xxx

_Five minutes before…_

Sasuke reveled in the raw power coursing through his veins. His Sharingan seemed amplified, as if for the first time he was seeing the full power of the Uchiha bloodline's potential. Before him lay the Sound kunoichi, shaking like a frightened rabbit caught by a rabid wolf. He had run her down until she was dead tired, wearing down her energy reserves until she couldn't even move anymore.

Kin struggled to contain the fear growing in her mind as she looked at her pursuer, the left side of his face covered in the black markings of the Heaven seal. Was this the power of Orochimaru-sama's curse seal? Misumi warned her earlier prior to the chuunin tests that the Heaven seal was already given to her leader's chosen apprentice, but she had no idea of the raw potential the seal possessed. The Uchiha's eyes blazed in red, a total of four tomoe spinning. His current state of being made him more fearsome, making the eerie red glow of his clan's bloodline seem like the eyes of a demon.

A demon. This was just what Sasuke was at the moment.

"You shouldn't have run, pathetic little Oto-nin," Sasuke said, laughing darkly. "You'll just die tired. Now what shall I do with you?" he cocked his head slightly, that insane smile lighting up his face. He picked up the kunoichi by the collar, a kunai spinning in his right hand as he contemplated where to make the first cut. Kin closed her eyes, finally accepting that it was all over for her…

The impact of the Housenka fireball knocked the Sound genin from Sasuke's grasp. Kin opened her eyes to find that she was held by a Leaf genin with blonde hair and a horrendously orange tracksuit. "Why?" she asked "why would you help me! I'm your enemy, damn it!" The blonde's dead blue eyes just stared straight at the Uchiha, meeting the evil red glare of the legendary Sharingan doujutsu. Naruto completely ignored her previous statement as he surveyed the situation before him. The trio was silent until the Uchiha finally spoke. "You know," Sasuke said, finally. "I've always wondered how good you _really _were."

Naruto shifted Kin in his grip so that he was holding her by the waist. "There's no need to kill the girl at this moment Sasuke-san. We can easily take the scroll from her now that she's much more…cooperative." The Sound ninja would have protested, thinking that she didn't want to give up the scrolls she worked so hard to get. When she finally realized that there was no point in arguing, she just nodded vigorously in agreement. Sasuke spat in irritation.

"Where's the fun in that? Naruto-_kun_?"

The blond wasn't paying any attention. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw six of his replicants position themselves in the surrounding trees, careful to keep themselves out of sight with a few D-class stealth jutsus. There just wasn't any point in engaging anyone in one-on-one combat when you could just overwhelm the opponent with sheer numbers. Naruto placed a hand behind his back, keeping his fingers angled away from Sasuke's line of sight as he signaled his clones to prepare to strike from a distance. The Uchiha's patience was wearing thin at Naruto's lack of a response. "Don't you dare ignore me, bastard!" he roared.

_Now_, Naruto signaled, gathering chakra to his feet and preparing to run.

Simultaneously, six of the shadow clones danced through several seals in preparation to launch ranged fire jutsus while another group of four launched shuriken and kunai where Sasuke was standing. The Uchiha's bloodline warned him in advance of the incoming projectiles, and he leapt upwards to evade the barrage of edged weapons. "Is that all you got, Uzumaki!" Sasuke taunted. "I can dodge these things with my eyes closed!"

"**Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!**" (Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!)

The streams of flame proved harder to evade midair than they would have been on the ground. Snarling internally, Sasuke dodged and leapt and twisted mid-flight as the fire jutsus continued to stream closer to his person. The six clones cycled their flame attacks in sync with each other: when three had to inhale, three took their place. All the while the other four kept launching edged weapons, forcing the Uchiha to roll on the ground to evade the volley upon his impact.

On terra firma, the Sharingan's predictive capacities proved to be more effective as Sasuke's evading skills could be more easily executed on solid ground. Running across the flaming grass, he launched shuriken at the bunshins' hiding spots, listening for the telltale "poof" when a shadow clone took the weapon to the chest. Within eighty seconds he had reduced the number of clones from ten to four, and he still wasn't done. By now half the trees in his part of the forest was on fire, but Sasuke ignored the damage when he realized something.

Naruto had picked up the hostage and run.

xxxxx

Sakura jumped when her teammate suddenly appeared right next to her, the Sound genin clutched under his arm. "Okay Naruto," she growled "you better have an amazing explanation in mind because if you don't--"

"It's genjutsu." The pink-haired kunoichi blinked.

"What?"

"**Magen: Kouka no jutsu,**" (Demonic Illusion: Descending Hell Technique) Naruto stated. "I've modified it so that ordinary Kage Bunshin can use it in wide range areas. It projects a vision of flames directly in the mind of the target. Ordinarily, the Sharingan should have been able to see right through it, but Sasuke-san's level of Sharingan just isn't able to see though genjutsu when launched from several different sources simultaneously."

Kage Naruto saluted. "If you don't require my services anymore, I take my leave, Naruto-teicho." With that the clone disappeared out of existence, leaving the trio on the branch. Kin finally collapsed on the ground, her pupils wide at the destruction she was seeing. _This was genjutsu?_ The Sound kunoichi had never seen anything like this before. She glanced at the blond who rescued her, thinking that if Oto ever laid their hands on this one, they wouldn't even need the alliance with the Uchiha. She shook her thoughts away, watching the battle tersely.

Sasuke was engaging the remaining clones in a taijutsu battle, and apparently he was winning. It didn't take long before four became three, then became one. Naruto tensed up. The Sharingan should have drained his chakra completely forty seconds ago. "Is that all you've got, Uzumaki!" Sasuke challenged. "I still have room for more! Come out, come out wherever you are!"

"You," Kin turned her head up, surprised at being addressed. "Accompany Sakura here. Neither of you will be of any help in the coming battle so stay out of the way." Sakura nodded, unable to find any purpose to oppose Naruto's reasoning. As Naruto prepared to launch himself at the Uchiha, the Sound genin latched onto his wrist. His dead blue eyes looked at her frightened face, gesturing for her to let go. She did, however reluctantly. As Naruto blurred out of existence, Kin whispered the words she held back at her savior's empty gaze.

"Be careful…"

A/N: Naruto was trained by Itachi to be able to defeat nearly every single aspect of the Sharingan, hence his focus on taijutsu and performing ninjutsu from a distance, far enough away for the Sharingan to be rendered ineffective. Obviously his sensei predicted the Uchiha opposition to his ward's existence from the start. Let's hope I can shed some light on why exactly this is by the next chapter. Hopefully I can start writing longer chapters too.

Oh Dear God. My laptop's out of commission.

Anyway, please review.


	12. This is What I Live for

**This is What I Live for**

_My name is Uzumaki Naruto, the Sword of Konoha. This is my story._

_From birth the village had always hated me. I have memories of being beaten up when I was as young as three years old. The orphanage offered me no protection, nor did they give me anything that I might have used to create an attachment between myself and this village. In the beginning I hated them. I hated them for their ignorance, their anger and their cruelty. What had I done to deserve my fate? Was my being born a sin in itself? Many nights I slept in pain, mind and body with only these thoughts keeping me company. I kept asking Hokage-sama, but for some reason he wouldn't tell me. I thought I'd never find out._

_Until Itachi-sensei._

_The day Itachi-sensei took me in, he invited the same hatred upon his life. For the first few months the both of us had lived in the Uchiha district, until his family kicked him out. Unofficially, he wasn't even Uchiha anymore. I remember the Military Police coming to our house in regular intervals, usually on some pretext or another that Itachi had committed some crime or another. The visits eventually came so often that Hokage-sama assigned a troop of ANBU to stand guard at all times from different locations around the apartment building. This kept them away for some time._

_I got to know some of them, thought none had ever bothered to take off their masks even when we got past the level of casual familiarity with each other. The funny thing was, trained assassins treated me kinder than the village's so-called protectors of the peace ever did. It never bothered me much, training kept me too busy to notice the things around me. As a teacher Itachi-sensei was quick to dispense punishment, and quite the opposite when it came to giving praise. He told me I needed to be strong, strong enough to protect the village when the time came for it to call on my help._

_I asked him in anger why I should bother to take any steps to protect a village that hated me. I asked him why I should bother saving the lives of people who never looked at me without cold fury burning in their eyes. I asked him why I shouldn't just use the training he was giving me to just kill them all in their sleep. I never once anticipated him to respond the way he did._

_He hit me._

_It was the only time Itachi-sensei landed a blow on me besides training. I was so surprised I never got a chance to ride the blow, and found myself pinned to the opposing wall eight meters away with a kunai to my neck. He told me one thing and one thing alone after that._

"_It was what shinobi lived for."_

_Itachi-sensei didn't speak to me for a long time after that incident. For what seemed like the longest time, he was a lot crueler during training that he ever was before. He literally broke me down every single time, forcing me into submission with every single act of brutality he subjected me to. I began to believe that for some reason he began to hate me too._

_It wasn't until an incident during one of our sparring sessions that I finally understood why. Itachi-sensei wasn't holding back (as always), and by the time I was too tired to react, he cast a genjutsu on me that I didn't recognize. To this day I still don't understand how in the hell it worked. When I felt his chakra spike up, I looked away, thinking to keep my eyes away from the Sharingan-based genjutsu he was going to throw my way. Now that I look back on it, the biggest mistake I made was when I made eye contact with his finger._

_Stupid._

_Itachi-sensei's personal genjutsu worked as long with at least one finger. No hand seals, and impossible to copy with even the mastered Sharingan. I figure the theory was that he could manipulate his chakra to move the proper way even without moving his hands through the seals. It was a brilliant move. Too bad both of us never saw the repercussions of it._

_I woke up three days later in a hospital bed alongside his. To my horror he had third degree burns covering two-thirds of his body. I was struck dumb by what I had done, or at least by what I thought I'd done. The only other people there were ANBU vice-captain Uzuki Yuugao and the Sandaime himself. He explained that my chakra had spiked up to critical levels when I tried to shake off the genjutsu. I had accidentally incinerated Itachi-sensei and myself to levels close to certain death. If it wasn't for the ANBU squad stationed nearby, both of us wouldn't have made it to the hospital in time for the medical ninja to save their lives._

_The next thing I knew I was running faster than I ever did before. I didn't even check to see where I was going, the only thought I had was that I needed to get away. I ran until I found myself going up a steep incline and fifteen minutes later I was at the top of a rock outcropping looking down on Konoha._

_Yuugao-neechan tailed me all the way there. I was crying so hard I didn't even see her come behind me. Didn't notice when she wrapped her arms around me and told me that Itachi-sensei didn't blame me for what I did. I was tired. Too tired to pay attention to what she was telling me. I don't know how long we were there, but I remember asking where we were. She told me._

_Hokage mountain. The giant monument commemorating the lives of all four of the Hokages Konohagakure no Sato ever had. I asked her then what would drive men like these, the most powerful ninja of all time to give their lives for this village. She told me the exact same thing Itachi-sensei did._

"_It was what shinobi lived for."_

* * *

Naruto evaded the first Katon strike with relative ease. Relative since only a few fibers of his jacket was singed in the onslaught. The blond genin shuddered to think just what Sasuke would have been capable at full strength, without most of his chakra drained away. As it was his options was limited to a) drain Sasuke's chakra b) disable Sasuke enough that he won't be a danger to himself c) remove the influence of Sasuke's curse seal or d) kill him before he became a danger to the others. Right now he was simultaneously working on options a and b while figuring out how to pull off option c.

He hoped to Kami-sama he would never have to resort to option d.

"What's wrong, Naruto-kun?" Sasuke taunted. "Having difficulty evading my fire strikes? How's this then!" The Uchiha's hands danced into some seals, inhaled and fired. Naruto was already reacting mid-jutsu. His own hands danced through some seals, hoping that Sasuke's concentration was off for him not to react quickly enough. Fire blast met earth dragon as the two ninjutsu slammed against each other.

"**Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu!**" (Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique)

"**Doton: Doryuudan!**" (Earth Style: Earth Dragon)

Dragon met fireball as Sasuke's fire jutsu evaporated the moisture in Naruto's jutsu, leaving a hardened shell of a soil dragon in its wake. The blond didn't even wait for the mist to clear when he dashed forward on chakra-powered legs, initiating the attack. The Uchiha smirked, evading the first blow with mercurial speed as Naruto spun around for a spinning heel kick. The impact resounded throughout the forest, sending shock waves throughout the trees. Sakura and Kin struggled to hold their footing, surprised at the sudden display of strength they were seeing. "What are those two!" The Sound kunoichi asked out loud. "I expected the Uchiha to be strong, but the other one…" her voice trailed off.

"Impressive match up. What do you think, Dosu?" Sakura whirled around, kunai in hand to find herself face to face with the other two members of the team from Hidden Sound. The bandaged genin saw her apprehension and shrugged. "Put your weapon away, woman," he stated. "We want to see first hand the clash of the titans." Zaku nursed some of the burn wounds on his forearms. "If anything, I'm betting on the blond," he said. "I don't want him to lose before I can get my two licks in." Dosu nodded, while Kin just kept her face impassive. Once Sakura saw that they mean no harm, she focused her attention at the growing intensity of the pair's battle.

"Do you think you can keep up with me forever?" Sasuke roared, speeding towards his opponent with twin kunai spinning in both hands. Naruto braced himself for the impact, blocking the blow with one of his own. Using Sasuke's momentum, the blond threw himself backwards, flipping his opponent into a tree. The Uchiha crashed into the wooden surface, shattering part of the tree into splinters as Naruto's hands danced into the seals again. "There's too many observers now, Sasuke-san," he noted. "I'll have to end this right now before any more of our techniques are seen." Dosu snorted, while Kin's attention seemed to be riveted to everything the blond said.

Naruto evaded an elbow strike by leaning to his left, and caught Sasuke's roundhouse kick with his right arm. Blue eyes met red as the blond genin pulled close to his opponent. "I'm sorry, Sasuke-san," the blond apologized. With those words Naruto's eyes flared red, his pupils turning into slits. Flaring red chakra exploded outwards from the blond as he released a controlled amount of his killing intent directly into Sasuke's mind using his personal genjutsu.

"**Magen: Satsui no Hadou no jutsu!**" (Demonic Illusion: Wave of Killing Urge Technique)

Sasuke spasmed uncontrollably, dropping hard into the ground as his Sharingan failed to push back this strange and oddly powerful genjutsu. Tears formed in the Uchiha's eyes as visions of horror filled his mind. Sakura dropped from the trees, rushing towards her fallen comerade. "Sasuke-kun!" The kunoichi bent down to check on him as the Sound ninja walked over to their direction.

Surprisingly Kin was the one who handed over their two Earth scrolls and the single Heaven scroll. Naruto blinked as the scroll was pressed into his hands. "We've seen what you can do," she said. "I don't think we'll last very long if you choose to fight against us." The blond understood, bowing to show his respect. He reached behind his pouch, causing Dosu and Zaku to draw their weapons. When Naruto's hand appeared again he was holding one of the Earth scrolls, which he then tossed over to Kin.

"We only need the Heaven scroll," the blond said. "It's only fair we give you this one." Kin smiled for a moment before she caught herself and went back to the depreciating scowl she had on before. "Then we're even blondie," she spat. "We won't go easy on you next time. Come on guys." Dosu and Zaku stared at her retreating form, the brunette muttering "must be that time of the month" under his breath. The bandaged genin slapped him over the head before he himself took off after his comrade. Zaku shrugged his shoulders and followed momentarily after.

Naruto hadn't even had a chance to turn around before Sakura slapped him hard across the face. "Damn you Naruto!" she screamed. "That was entirely uncalled for! What do you think you were doing when you did that to Sasuke-kun!" The blond just stared at her before picking up Sasuke's unconscious form. "He'll live," he said simply. "I made sure I only used enough chakra to disable him. Other than that he's uninjured."

"Oh so he'll live then, so this makes it all okay!" Naruto stared at her blankly.

"Yes."

"…I hate you."

Naruto hefted their teammate on his shoulder, making sure Sasuke won't slip off as they move. "We're twenty minutes away from the tower," he calculated, checking their position from the posted map he memorized at in the beginning of the second part of the test. "We can have medic nins look at him at the tower and have enough time for us to prepare for the next part of the test. Let's go." Sakura glared a moment before she relented, following after her quickly accelerating teammate to their final destination.

* * *

_To this day I still don't know what Yuugao-neechan was trying to tell me that night on Hokage mountain. All I know is after that day, I lived only to train as if training was my only life. I never got to understand everyone, nor did I attempt to let my heart take the risks it took when I trusted Itachi-sensei._

_Itachi-sensei got out of the hospital after a month, and since then he's been coming down on me harder and harder. I never dared to complain after what I did to him. Maybe it's guilt, maybe I believed it was my fault after all these years. Then again it was partially true. I hurt the only person who ever even believed I could be something more than a wasted life. _

_Truth be told it was the only thing I ever asked for anyway. _

_

* * *

_

Okay so I'll be making a couple of changes in the format of the stories, firstly because all my files from the laptop incident got fried. The good news being that the later chapters will be a lot longer and a lot more detailed, hopefully tailored to the specifications of some of your comments in previous reviews. Upcoming news being that the pairing will be announced next chappie, hopefully my style has improved enough so to hold your attention even longer.

Anyway, please review.


	13. Enter The Serpent

**Enter The Serpent**

It was already sunset when they made it to the medical center at the border of the forest. The trio lost no time bounding through the trees, sprinting all the twenty minutes it took to reach this place. Naruto lay Sasuke's unconscious form on the stretcher as the medical ninjas took him away. Sakura bit her lip worriedly, unsure of the fate of her teammate. The blond glanced at her direction, his expressionless face not giving a hint of his thoughts. "We have thirty hours before the deadline," he said suddenly. "Enough time for him to recover before we need to turn in the scrolls." Sakura turned and stared, her eyes already watering over.

Slap.

Naruto's face didn't register the pain of the kunoichi's backhand. "Damn you!" Sakura raged. "Why'd you have to go overboard back there! You could have seriously hurt Sasuke-kun! You deserve a lot worse you heartless monster!" The blond remained silent as Sakura continued to give him a tongue lashing. There was no need to respond, not yet. The kunoichi chewed him out, punctuating every sentence with another backhand, the force of each strike succeeding only to shift Naruto's face in another direction.

Sakura's raged ebbed slowly, her frustration building as even as she was hitting her teammate he refused to move to defend himself. She continued hitting him harder, shouting more cruel words. Nothing. Still no reaction. In tears, Sakura collapsed on the ground, her eyes still blazing.

"Why?"

"Do you really want to know?"

Naruto's hand came up, rubbing the red welts made by Sakura's knuckles. "Sasuke-san purposefully chased down the enemy alone," the blond began. "This was reckless. He needed the team with him to back him up in case some other party chose this moment to strike him down and cause him injury. Or worse."

"The curse seal activating itself at that moment only complicated things, but not so much more than what seemed to have been. He then made the decision to kill the prisoner, even when it was obvious there was no need to do this."

"Don't be such a hypocrite," Sakura reasoned. "You killed those Rain ninja as easily. You have no right to call Sasuke-kun on his attempt when you would have easily done the exact same thing!"

The blond nodded. "True," he conceded. "I would have done the exact same thing. The only difference being that the Sound kunoichi was nowhere near the power levels Sasuke-san had at the moment. The curse seal amped up his skills and capabilities, up to the point when there was no conceivable way for any ordinary genin to even retaliate effectively against such an onslaught."

"As to my actions I realize that I might have been too eager to use my own skill. But when you think about it, the point came down to one thing: him or me. If I had held back even just a small part of my power in this situation, Sasuke would have done everything in his power to destroy me. This is no game, Sakura. I would have died had I lost."

Sakura's mind attempted to grasp the situation on hand. Sasuke would never kill anyone! Never! But then… she looked at the blond standing not three feet from her again, trying to hold his empty gaze. Would he have killed Naruto? Would he really? The kunoichi found herself torn. Her loyalty to her best friend and the impeccable logic of Naruto's action. Green eyes turned away, still unable to accept basic facts.

"Yes. You would have died."

There was no reaction still. Naruto continued to stare her down for a couple of seconds more before he excused himself to head for the inside of the medical center. He had some wounds on him that needed treating, he explained. Sakura watched him leave, still wallowing in her own disbelief at what just transpired. It was a surprise to her when she called out to his retreating form.

"Wait!" The blond turned.

"I…I'm sorry," Sakura's eyes were downcast. "I honestly don't know what came over me. I had no right to say those things to you. I just…" Naruto nodded, not letting her finish her sentence. "I know," he said. Another awkward moment passed before Sakura would speak again.

"What were those weird marks on Sasuke-kun anyway?"

The blond looked away, unsure of whether he had clearance to tell her about classified information or not. "I'll try to explain when I can," Naruto compromised, keeping his eyes away. "But there's not much I can tell you. For now we should get some rest. There's thirty hours remaining before we need to turn in the scrolls and we should take advantage of the time." The kunoichi nodded, not noticing the rather subtle evasion.

"All right. But we should watch over Sasuke-kun as well."

"Hai. I intended to do that."

The pair walked through the medical center's glass doors, heading for the lounge where they could get a short rest before the next phase of the exams began. Naruto made a mental note to send a message to Kakashi-sensei and Itachi-sensei. If he knew a bit more about seal jutsu, he would have been able to take care of this himself. The blond shook his head. _No time to think like that_, he reasoned. _First things first_.

He had to keep Sakura and Sasuke safe.

xxx

The white-haired Konoha ninja lowered his spy glasses and grinned. He had seen the devastation created by the nine-tailed fox first hand and was happy with what he saw. His skills were astounding. Even better than what his intelligence had gathered! Orochimaru playing into the situation was pushed back in the recesses of his mind. He had far more important things to do. A chakra-activated nin card appeared in his hand.

Uzumaki Naruto. Village of Origin, Konohagakure no Sato. Notes: Was taught by current ANBU captain Uchiha Itachi since age six in lieu of academy education. Proficiency with at least level A ninjutsu and genjutsu. Taijutsu abilities derived from a style believed to be from Kirigakure. Battle potential, possible high A class or lower S. Missions completed being 40 D class missions, 25 C class, 10 from A class category and a single S class mission. The ninja smiled again, pleased at the accuracy of his data. There was a big hole in the variables list, but as it was he was glad he knew at least this much. Even estimates can make a difference in a pinch. _At least this was better than nothing_, he said to himself. He made the necessary updates and turned to his subordinates.

"Yoroi." A man wearing sunglasses turned.

"Misumi." The contortionist looked up.

"It seems our plans have changed," the ninja said, pushing his glasses up his face. "This Uzumaki fellow seems to be attached to Orochimaru's target. I need you both to continue observing the medical center and report back to me any changes that might occur." The pair nodded before they blurred out of existence.

"Uzumaki Naruto," the spectacled ninja said, rolling the name off his tongue. "What an interesting ninja you grew up to be." The man laughed darkly before he too melted into the shadows of the growing evening.

xxx

Naruto clicked off his transmitter and headed back to the stairs that led him to the rooftop of the hospital. His footsteps resounded off the steel steps as his hand gripped the banister pensively. The communiqué was sent, Itachi and Kakashi would be there within the hour. Still he had a job to do and was not willing to put it off any longer.

As the blond walked to the hallways leading to Sasuke's room, his heightened senses could not help but notice the glares the medical technicians were giving him. Once or twice he even heard them whispering. "There's the Kyuubi brat," one said.

"Quiet! We're forbidden to talk about this!"

"Not like he can hear us anyway."

Naruto pushed the voices away until they were only background noise and continued walking. If they knew he could hear them it was only a short moment before they were executed by the Hokage's law. It didn't make any difference if he already knew about the demon fox, the law was never repealed. Therefore, it was still in effect.

Execution was the only punishment. Always.

He ended up walking a couple of minutes more before he found himself in a deserted hallway. This was the scenic route true, but Naruto had no intentions of letting people talk behind his back when they were within reach. Emotions left uncheck were sometimes the most dangerous thing in a combat situation, and even outside of battle this still held true. His footfalls stopped as the blond gathered chakra.

There was no real name for this detection jutsu, and Naruto wasn't even sure it was a jutsu in the first place. It had something to do with sinking the mind into a level of consciousness that was forgotten ever since the day man started to embrace civilization. It was primal, accessing areas of the brain that had mankind had unknowingly atrophied from thousands of years of disuse. No new senses were opened up, no heightening of the current ones. Merely a different state of mind being reactivated after a long sleep. There were many names for this technique, one for every existing culture. But the only name Naruto cared to learn was the single one Itachi taught him to use.

_Getsumei no Michi_. The moonlit path.

He rode the avenues of his mind as the moonlit path awakened to his touch. He sank into the depths of the move, making his mind all the more aware of everything around him. Sight but not sight. Naruto's eyes opened, revealing the red, slitted orbs of the demon fox. His own eyes wouldn't be much use here, and he needed the enhanced capabilities of his "tenant." His senses searched a fifty meter radius around him, poking and probing until he found what he was looking for.

"My, it seems you're detection skills are better than I heard," someone said, stepping out of the shadows. He had the garb of a Sound jounin, sporting purple garments over a rather pale complexion. His golden eyes smiled with delight, though his delight was a bit more malice-filled for comfort. Naruto's hand edged towards his weapon pouch, as he angled his body to hide his hand.

"Orochimaru, I presume?"

"My. How my reputation precedes me."

The shuriken flew through the air like a swarm of angry bees. A pale hand shot up and blurred in motion, capturing all six of the bladed weapons in the blink of an eye. The Sannin's other hand blocked an attack by an orange blur, the punch powerful enough to send echoes resounding through the empty hallway. A kunai strike by the blond was blocked by the blades of the shuriken Orochimaru was holding in his other hand and Naruto grimaced as he realized he was at an impasse.

"So you realize it too eh?" the Sannin said. "Can't risk cutting loose here or you'll damage the building and in turn hurt your sensei's precious little brother. Pathetic." A sudden roundhouse kick made the snake user leap backwards, breaking their contact. Naruto's next strike was cut short as the Sannin planted an uppercut in his gut.

The blond rose six inches off the ground at the force of the blow and coughed loudly as the oxygen in his lungs was forcibly expelled. The Sannin shook his hand, surprised at how much it hurt to hit the boy. "I'm impressed you're still conscious," Orochimaru said, evading a half-hearted strike to the torso as Naruto collapsed from the pain of the previous attack. "But I don't think you'll be in any condition for any form of combat with me right now."

The living weapon's eyes showed no acknowledgement of the older man's words. It was true. A lot of his own chakra was burned off during the encounter with Sasuke and the sprint that brought him here almost let his chakra coils get burned out completely. He could use the Kyuubi's chakra but…

Orochimaru ran a hand through his locks. "I suppose you're hesitant to let…_it_ take control of you? I don't blame you though. Too much danger in letting that happen right now, especially in quarters as close as this one. Face it brat, you're out of your league this time." The old man laughed darkly as he set off in the direction of Sasuke's room. Surprise marred his face as he felt the ninja wire encircle his leg.

"You won't pass through this hallway," the blond said determinedly. Naruto held the wire between his teeth and rolled up his left sleeve. The arm was covered in an intricate seal tattoo, set in black ink on his skin. Quickly, the blond's hands flashed through the seals before he bit his own thumb and ran the blood over the symbols.

"**Kuchiyose no jutsu! Kitsune no Tenken!**" (Summoning Technique! Heaven Sword of the Fox!)

In Naruto's right hand appeared an ivory-hilted wakizashi, its blue steel glimmering in the fluorescent lighting. At the base of the blade was an intricate gold carving of a fox head, its hilt guard flowing outwards to show a symmetric set of nine tails supported by a filigree circle. The ninja wire was gripped in the boy's left hand, his eyes showing the readiness of a seasoned warrior.

Orochimaru shook his head, laughing darkly. "Silly little weapon," he said. "Did you think even at this point you'd have the strength to defeat me? What do you hope to accomplish by burning off the last of your chakra?"

"Only to delay you until help arrives," Naruto answered. "Itachi-sensei and Kakashi-sensei will be here within thirty minutes." Golden eyes stared into blue as the Sannin reevaluated his options. "You actually think you'll last for thirty minutes against me?" he taunted. "You'll be lucky if you reach five."

The ninja wire grew taut as the living weapon spun to his left to close the gap between them. Using the circular momentum of this move, Naruto brought his blade around in a punishing slash that would have decapitated the snake sage, if only the older shinobi's kunai had not blocked the way. The weapons impacted each other with a loud clang, though the serpent master hardly budged.

"**Konoha Ryuu: Setsudanki no Mai** (Leaf Style: Dance of the Guillotine)," Orochimaru observed. "So you know of the ancient dance styles. Perhaps you will at least be an amusing kill. Very well, I will humor you for a few minutes."

Naruto's internal clock ticked on. Okay, twenty five minutes left. He only had to delay Orochimaru for twenty-five minutes and reinforcements would arrive. He kept a tight grip on the ninja wire encircling the Sannin's leg and poised himself for another strike, praying to Kami-sama his chakra would last a bit longer.

xxx

Sakura sat in a chair by Sasuke's bedside. The Uchiha had been unconscious for the better part of an hour and showed no signs of coming out of it. Reaching over, the kunoichi brushed off a lock of the patient's hair from his face. "You've been in and out of the hospital lately, ne Sasuke-kun?" she joked. "It's a wonder you don't live here yet!"

The pink-haired preteen forced a laugh. Sasuke remained silent, unconscious under the beeping of an EKG. Three different IV drips were leaking vital medicine into his veins, one to counteract the muscle damage caused by his fight with Naruto, one to replenish his chakra faster and another to provide nutrition to his starving bloodstream. The medical ninjas had speed-healed most of his major injuries, but they said they had to wait until the very limit of the thirty hour deadline before they could pass their scrolls.

Sakura stared at the rolled up pieces of parchment in her hands. One marked Heaven, another marked Earth. How could they have gone through so much trouble just for these silly rolls of paper? She remembered vaguely what Naruto said.

"_This is no game, Sakura._"

There was a point in her life when she had dreams of growing up a glamorous woman, and in a village like Konoha, being a kunoichi seemed the most glamorous job of all. Sakura shook her head. _Naruto was right_, she decided. _This was no game_. Becoming shinobi or kunoichi meant that every single day of your life was forfeit to the decisions of fate, no matter the skill of the ninja or the strength of his technique.

Naruto was one gigantic object lesson in this. The boy was one of the most powerful ninja she knew, and in the fight against Sasuke even he risked his own life to defeat the top rookie of their batch. The amazing thing was, he even kept from killing her best friend even though the enigmatic blond found it really easy to do this before. Sakura shook her head. She didn't think she'd be able to figure him out even if she tried. Still, she knew he had to be given his fair chance. After all, Itachi-sempai did train him. He couldn't be as bad as Sasuke said he was.

What puzzled Sakura even more was how close Sasuke came to killing Naruto. In their initial sparring match the Uchiha gave it his all and he failed to defeat him even with Sakura's assistance. How in the hell did he get all that juice? What were those strange marks on him? Sakura's thoughts were cut off when she felt a faint vibration rock the room.

"What was that?" she asked aloud, to no one in particular. Her green eyes looked at a glass of water resting by the bed on a small table. She strained her sight and waited for…got it. The water on the surface of the cup rippled slightly. You wouldn't have seen it had you not known what to look for. Something was going on, something big. Sakura took a long glance at Sasuke before she got up and took off. She closed the door behind her as she ran to what was causing the tremors.

xxx

A/N: Oh yeah, back in business. Most of the files in my laptop got fried, as most of you are already aware of. Ooh look! A longer chappie! Hopefully more on the way! The main problem with me writing longer chapters is that I may need to take longer periods in between updates. But since I update so rarely anyway, I doubt any of you folks will notice.

Oh and if you notice that old snake-face was kind of wiping the floor with good old Naruto, you have to understand that he did fight Sasuke in stage one curse seal mode. That's not an easy thing to pull off, I understand. The fact that he did take a bit of a beating and burned a good part of his chakra reservoirs means he may not be as combat effective, even with his inhuman recovery abilities. Plus I needed to give him a couple of weaknesses. I'm sure a lot of you'd like to see CBM Naruto get his ass handed to him every now and then.

The technique _Getsumei no Michi_ is one I borrowed from an author named Eric Van Lustbader in his novel, "The Miko." He writes a lot of material on ninja-related stuff and I think I'll be borrowing a lot of terms from his novels. Hope he doesn't sue though. I'm broke enough as it is.

Anyway, I guess I'll end it here. See you next chapter and keep those flames of youth burning! Yosh! good guy pose teeth glare!


	14. Foreboding

**Foreboding**

The battle rages on. A dance between two warriors, a deadly tango between victory and defeat. Blade met blade as the pair wore each other down for the advantage. One was a legendary Sannin, traitor to his village and perpetrator of some of the most vile crimes in Shinobi history. The other was jinchuuriki, the vessel for the true king of the tailed beasts, a living weapon who grew up hearing only the song of war.

It was a battle between ninja.

Orochimaru continued toying with the boy, taking advantage of his still full reserves of chakra and lack of fatigue. Uzumaki Naruto was in a terrible state, his skin marred by several cuts and slices from the _Kusanagi no Tsurugi_ (Sword of the Grass Cutter). No matter how quickly the demon fox healed his body attacks from the more experienced and battle tested warrior kept managing to open new wounds. Naruto was out of breath and out of luck.

Sakura kept herself hidden from her vantage point, unable to look away from the fierce sword battle in front of her. Who was this mysterious ninja? What did he want with Naruto? The kunoichi bit her lip, the tension inside building as she gripped the corner of the wall with her fingernails. "Had enough yet boy?" the older man taunted. "I don't see how you'll be able to stop me at this rate, Uzumaki." The blond wiped a line of blood streaming from his mouth, his expression grim as death.

"I won't let you get past this hallway."

"Brave words little weapon. But I don't see any action backing them up!"

Orochimaru spun in a full circle and slammed the Kusanagi into Naruto's wakizashi with a two-handed grip, nearly breaking through the halfhearted defense of the now heavily damaged genin. The watcher grimaced, ducking out of the line of sight and covering her ears, her eyes shut tightly. Naruto charged again and again, the snake sennin parrying each blow with the edge of the Kusanagi. The genin poured chakra into the blade, forcibly squeezing out another strike from his exhausted body. Golden eyes watched the move with sadistic amusement.

"**Konoha Ryuu: Shiroi Setsudanki!**" (Leaf Style: White Guillotine)

The sennin didn't bother to block as he sidestepped the blow. Naruto's wakizashi dug into the hallway's plaster, lodged up to its hilt. The blond pulled futilely as the older ninja drove an elbow in his face, breaking the boy's nose and knocking him backwards some ten feet. Just then several medical ninja walked in to find the battle still in progress. "What's going on here!" the senior doctor cried. Orochimaru tch'ed before his hands flashed into some seals. "**Senei Ta Jashu! **(Multiple Snake Hands!)" the sennin cried, snakes exploding from his sleeves in a torrent of fangs. The medical ninja who were not able to dodge were slaughtered, poisoned wounds adorning their major arteries.

Naruto did not waste his time forming a new set of seals while Orochimaru was busy slaughtering the remaining medical ninja. Naruto blew a great gust of chakra-imbued wind from his mouth, yelling "**Fuuton: Daitoppa! **(Wind Release, Great Breakthrough!)"

Orochimaru felt the sudden spike in chakra and was blown into the far wall, quick reflexes preventing him from punching clear through as the wind jutsu exploded out the window. An orange blur flared into motion, Naruto's backfist carrying his entire weight into the sennin's face. Orochimaru rode the blow, sliding backwards on the linoleum floor and regaining traction on his feet as the blond launched a jump kick his way.

The sennin's hand snaked up and out, catching the boy's leg and hurling him into the floor. Naruto was not given respite as Orochimaru's boot met his face, grinding him into the floor in the midst of the medical ninja corpses. "You caught me by surprise there little boy," he spat. "I could have been in and out. Why do you insist on irritating me this badly?"

Thud. Crunch.

The beating continued, Orochimaru's boot slamming repeatedly into the blonde's body. Naruto refused to cry out, his own tolerance of pain enhanced by regularly having S-class kinjutsu fired his way on a regular basis. Instead he used the vibrations from the sennin's beating to slowly dislodge a small kunai from his left sleeve until the pointed tip was at his wrist.

He timed it correctly and rolled over just as the sennin was bringing his foot down, sending the kunai through the air. The blade sliced through the air and made a small line in Orochimaru's face, breaking the sennin's concentration for just a moment. Naruto slid off from under him and scrambled to distance himself from his opponent, inadvertently placing himself within two meters of a certain pink-haired kunoichi's hiding place.

Sakura dropped backwards at the blond's approach, accidentally revealing herself to the two combatants. Naruto's blue eyes widened in surprise. _Shit!_ Orochimaru saw his distress and smiled snakily. "Well," he drawled. "Quite a quandary you find yourself in, ne Naruto-kun?" Kusanagi hung lazily in his fingers. "It seems I found myself a hostage. What, I wonder, would you do to keep her safe?"

The kunoichi looked from Orochimaru back to her teammate, and scrambled to stand up. A kunai found its way in her hands, her grip on the weapon loose and shaky. Naruto placed himself in front of Sakura, his own kunai held in his one working hand. From previous estimates of her ability, she won't even last six seconds against the snake. If anything, the living weapon hated complications like this.

Civilians always got in the way.

Naruto shook his head. Sakura was ninja, not civilian. He would not underestimate her, no matter how unbelievably pathetic her abilities. A lot of good men died that way. Still, the girl was in no condition to fight and from the blond's observations, it would be better if he took the lead on this one. "Sakura," he said "Stay behind me until help arrives. He'll be coming after you first and there's nothing you can do to stand against his skill."

"What about you?"

"Don't worry about me. Help will be here."

Sakura bit her lip, wondering where Naruto draws his courage. And then the chirping of a thousand birds filled the air. The cavalry had arrived. The kunoichi turned and saw both Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi escorted by the medical center's remaining medic ninja. All twenty five of them had weapons drawn. Kakashi looked on lazily with his single visible eye, his Chidori sparking blue in his hand.

"So…what'd we miss?"

xxx

Twenty minutes before…

_"Well I see that I lost my window of opportunity this time," Orochimaru said, holding his hands together in a seal. "Don't think any of you are off the hook this time. I will come back. He will seek the power only I have to give him, this I promise you all!" The sennin laughed darkly, sinking into the ground with a Doton jutsu. _

_Itachi sheathed his katana, his first two fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. "I really hate that crappy laugh of his," the ANBU said. Kakashi deactivated his Chidori and nodded in agreement, motioning for the medical ninja to bring the blond to the emergency room. _

"Well Naruto-kun, at least this time Itachi wasn't the one dealing all the damage," the doctor said, tightening the bandage. "Tell you what, your punch card's almost full. Come in next week and I'll get you an appendectomy free!" The other medics laughed at the doctor's humor. Naruto looked on, his face a blank. The doctor wiped a tear from his eye, patting down the bandage with the other hand. "Itachi could have done to teach you a sense of humor you know," he said dryly.

The medical ninja took the entire twenty minutes patching the boy up. Funny, Naruto realized. He spent almost as much time in the hospital as he did on the training field. He'd have to do something like that. The blond turned his head when he heard soft knocking. The doctor called out a short "come in" before tidying up his supplies, the other medics assisting in the trivial task.

The door opened to reveal a pink haired kunoichi. Sakura peeked in, asking "Is Naruto going to be all right?" The doctors looked up and invited her in. "Not to worry about it lass," a redheaded nurse quipped. "Naruto-kun's gone through a hell of a lot worse than this. He's got a hard head, that he does."

The blond tested his arm's mobility, rotating it around a couple of times from his shoulder. There was a slight stinging in the movement, but it wasn't anything major. Nothing a couple of hours of rest won't cure. He glanced at the clock again, noting that they had twelve hours left before they needed to get to the next station and turn in their scrolls. Should be enough for him and the others to recover sufficiently, he reasoned.

Sakura made her way towards him and sat down in a high chair. Naruto's dead blue eyes noted her slight distress. "Are you damaged?" he asked in his usual monotone. Sakura attempted a smile. "No," she said tentatively. "I guess…I guess I just want to apologize for everything I've said. I think I understand what you've been trying to tell me all this time."

Naruto looked away, grabbing his orange jacket and putting it on. He winced with every movement, obviously still in a state of pain from the battle a while ago. "There's no need to apologize Sakura," he said finally. "Like the doctor said, I've been through worse before."

The kunoichi rubbed her hands like an aggrieved little girl. Sakura opened her mouth to say something but thought better of it. The two stood in silence as Naruto collected the rest of his things. The blond opened the door for the girl as they stepped out the hallway to head for Sasuke's ward. They walked in silence for a few minutes before Sakura spoke again.

"Ne, Naruto."

"Yes?"

"About what the doctor said a while ago," Sakura began. "About Itachi-sempai hurting you? Is any of it true?" Cold blue eyes stared straight ahead as they negotiated a stairwell. "His training methods are…harsh," Naruto said finally. "But effective. Most of his methods would probably kill you, but if you were used to it you don't mind as much."

Flashback

_Ten year old Naruto struggled to pick himself up from the smoking wreckage that was once the ANBU training ground. Itachi loomed over him, a shadowy figure in a black cloak and a ceramic mask covering the entire face. "Pathetic," he seethed. "That was the worst excuse for an earth wall I've ever seen. Couldn't even block a simple level B fire jutsu." _

_"Is that it, Uzumaki? Is that all you got?" _

_"Sir! No sir!" _

_"Good," Itachi began, flashing through some seals "because if you fail to block this one I'll have to write a memo to the Hokage about why I had to scrape your obliterated remains from the tarmac. You know how I hate paperwork, Uzumaki." Naruto forced himself upright, his own hands flashing through some seals. _

_"Hai, Itachi-sensei!" _

"That's so cruel!" Sakura yelled, to Naruto's surprise. "No sensei should be this harsh on his student! I can't believe Itachi-sempai would do such a thing to you!" The kunoichi caught herself, tinting her cheeks a light red. "I mean…"

"Your concern is noted, but I really don't mind."

"Wha-why?"

"Itachi-sensei knows my limits. He would never go past them."

Flashback

_"That's enough for today." _

_Naruto blinked, suppressing the urge to cough out more blood. "Itachi-sensei," he choked out. "I can still take it…" The ANBU looked on, his expression impassive as his mask came off. "No you aren't," he said. "Unless you want me to stop holding back on you I suggest you hit the showers. Training's over for the day." _

_"But Itachi-sensei…" _

_"No buts Uzumaki. Hit the showers before I make you do fifty laps." _

_The blond looked at Itachi's retreating form before collapsing on the ground, wondering not for the first time if he even had the strength to hit the showers. Perhaps he'll need to crawl all the way there again. He sighed inwardly. A hundred meters was always farther away when you were exhausted. _

They walked in silence for a few more minutes as they approached Sasuke's ward. "You know," Sakura quipped. "This is the only time I ever heard your voice change from the usual monotone. You must really respect Itachi-sempai, don't you?" Naruto nodded. "His skills helped me up to this point," the blond admitted. "I would have never have gotten this far without Itachi-sensei."

Sakura shook her head in disbelief. _Boy he really needs to lighten up,_ she realized. "You're really hopeless Naruto," she giggled. Naruto cocked his head to the side and at the confused look on his face Sakura waved her hand dismissively. "Forget it," she said. "Forget what I said. So, wanna see how Sasuke-kun's doing?"

They opened the door to Sasuke's room and found most of the furniture moved against the walls. The floor was covered in strange writing, apparently written in blood. Kakashi was finishing up the script lettering the last symbol with his thumb and ending it right around a spot on Sasuke's neck. The genin was unconscious. Itachi saw the pair and motioned them inside.

"What's all this Itachi-sempai?"

"It's gonna take care of those strange marks on Sasuke's skin."

"Sakura, go stand with Naruto on the side of the room."

Kakashi motioned for Itachi to activate his Sharingan. The ANBU did so and both of them started flashing through some seals. Sakura felt the chakra levels spike momentarily and saw the written seals move across the floor towards Sasuke. Her eyes opened wide as the genin opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came. The two older ninja kept going, and suddenly they both called the jutsu's name out simultaneously.

"**Fuuja Houin no jutsu!** (Evil Sealing Technique!)"

The chakra levels went down in the room and again the floors were blank. Itachi turned to Naruto and asked "Uzumaki, did you see the seals we used?"

"Hai, Itachi-sensei."

Itachi nodded. "Move through them in your mind until you understand how it works," he ordered. "Then make a report to your jounin-sensei about all you've learned. If you get it wrong its ten laps around Konoha." Naruto saluted. Kakashi sat down on a stool and took out his Icha-Icha. Itachi took Sasuke back to the hospital bed and started moving the furniture back to their proper places.

"Sakura," he said. "Remind me to send the Hokage a memo about certain ANBU captains usurping a jounin-sensei's authority." Sakura did a parodied salute. "At once Mein Fuhrer!" she joked, eliciting a tic on Itachi's eyelid. The ANBU formed the first two fingers of both hands into a "w."

"Whatever, you old pervert."

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yes Sakura. You wish to inquire of my limitless wisdom?"

"The exams," she said. "Isn't it illegal for jounin-sensei to assist their genin in the Forest of Death phase? Are we going to be disqualified?" Kakashi shook his head as he flipped to another page. "I've already sent a memo to the examiner's office," he explained. "I'm sure they'll be letting us off the hook just this--"

The door slammed open revealing a very angry kunoichi with a brown trench coat. "What the fuck is this Hatake!" she asked, brandishing a piece of paper. "How the hell do you get off telling my people you're team deserves considerations? Special circumstances my ass, Hatake!"

"Anko--"

"The fuck! It's Examiner Mitarashi until the exams are over and--"

"Examiner Mitarashi."

The kunoichi turned, forgetting momentarily that there were other people in the room. The voice was sultry, like it was caressing every syllable with the finest silk garments. She was surprised to find the ANBU captain Uchiha Itachi staring at her with hunger in his eyes. Even Sakura was startled. This was so very different from the Itachi that was in the room just minutes before. His hair moved along with his movements, silken strands shining perfectly in the fluorescent lighting. The ANBU's walk was different, like every step used just the barest fraction of the slow motion explosion within. He walked like a panther. A very sexy, nubile panther. A very sexy, nubile panther in heat.

Anko blushed, licking her lips involuntarily. Itachi strode closer, stopping inches from the tokubetsu jounin's face. He ran his thumb across the moisture on the kunoichi's lip and made a show of licking the wetness off his finger. "Sweet with just a tiny bit of spice," he whispered. "Like cinnamon." The kunoichi shuddered, her hormones getting the best of her as a moan escaped off her slightly open mouth. It was getting harder and harder to restrain herself from ripping the clothes of this raven-haired Adonis in front of her.

Sakura had to turn away, her heart palpitating was more than she could bear. _Damn!_ Inner Sakura exclaimed. _No wonder forehead girl had such a crush on this guy! He's such a blazing hottie!_ Sakura was inclined to agree, surprised for once that she and her other self were on the same page. She so did not want to entertain her inner self's thoughts about how he'd look in a wet t-shirt.

"Examiner Mitarashi."

"Please, Kami-sama. Call me Anko."

Itachi smiled. "I understand that Hatake-sempai was indeed encroaching on your," he paused to brush a hair off Anko's forehead and exhale millimeters from her eyebrows "authority. Truly you are within your rights to suspend, even disqualify team seven from participating in the chuunin exams. But I beg of you, please consider this _one_ case. I would be…in your debt."

The older Uchiha emphasized the last word and Anko was grinning like a caffeinated school girl on Prozac. Kakashi slapped his own forehead. He knew his protégé would pull something like this. Sakura struggled to look away, her own preteen hormones spiking up.

Itachi took the document from Anko's unresisting hand and waved it around her face. She followed the piece of paper like she was in a hypnotic trance and snapped it up with her teeth. "I guess you'll be filing this in with the examiners?" the ANBU inquired. "Or is it necessary for me to requisition the necessary paperwork to…"

"No, it's going to be no trouble! Trust me!"

"Thank you Anko. Thank you very much."

Itachi reached over and planted a small kiss on the kunoichi's forehead and just as suddenly she dropped off unconscious, her nosebleed staining the floor. The ANBU flipped his hair back, smiling that sort of effeminate smile most male models tended to sport.

Then suddenly Itachi wasn't Sexy McSexenheimer anymore. Sakura suddenly found herself able to look the shinobi in the face without resisting the urge to pin him to a wall or something. Even Inner Sakura was surprised. The ANBU cleared his throat, adjusting his collar. "That my dear gentlemen," he said and upon noticing Sakura quickly added "and lady, was called **Bishounen no jutsu**(Pretty Boy Technique). Try and keep up will you? And have a nurse dispose of the examiner."

The ANBU plopped down on a couch, reading a magazine. Naruto looked from him to Kakashi. "I know," the cycloptic jounin said. "He confuses me too." Anko remained unconscious. Which was probably for the best.

xxx

A/N: The powers that be commanded that a jutsu be created to fill the hole the missing Orioke no Jutsu left. Unfortunately I couldn't do this without putting a humor sequence in the chapter. Hope it wasn't too crappy thought (yo Weizel, there's your Itachi fan service. Hope you like.). I can't believe I forgot to post the main pairing in the last chapter! I must be the youngest person suffering from short term memory loss. Anyway, it's NaruKin (not ItaNaru, not SasuNaru or any other crappy cliché pairing like that.), and I posted it on the story summary already but I guess you guys didn't get to read it.

Still I'd like to get these chappies out of the way so we can focus on the slobber-knocker that is the chuunin preliminaries. The matches are not going to be the same as the canon, so don't expect to see Lee nearly killed or Hinata getting her ass handed to her because of Neji. Asses are going to get handed to some people but I'm not giving things away.

If you think that's cool wait for the main matches. That's really going to be a sight to see. So far I'm seeing three factions here. The Uchiha-Sand-Sound combo, the Leaf, and the Akatsuki. Yes the Akatsuki are going to be a major factor. I've been reading the reviews and I've noticed nobody ever noticed Kabuto spying on the kids in the previous chapter. How could you guys have missed that? Chakra-activated nin-cards! Come on people!

Anyway, that's just me. Thought it was pretty easy to spot but I guess I made it a little too subtle for its own good. Must work on this I guess.

Please review.


	15. Dawn of the Morning

**Dawn of the Morning **

The Sandaime as a habit always awoke before sunrise. It was a habit left over from his days in the field, when it was necessary to move across distances when most civilians would still be asleep. He checked his wall clock and saw that it was still four in the morning. Sarutobi frowned as he struggled to pull himself out of the bed, the years weighing heavy on his physical body as well as his mind.

He spent the next half hour grooming and cleansing himself, and as he dressed himself in his ceremonial robes, the ancient ninja took this time to reflect if his life held any meaning even after all these decades. Sarutobi was in his mid eighties, older than most ninja in active service should have to be. Truth be told, he should have remained in retirement twelve years ago. However sometimes fate does leave a fantastic mind fuck behind in place of perfectly coordinated plans.

Uzumaki Naruto. The living weapon born of a demon attack twelve years ago. The hero who kept the nine-tailed demon lord from destroying all of Konoha simply by serving as its jailor. Arashi's legacy. More than once the Sandaime knew he had bitten off more than he could chew by assigning his guardianship to the Uchiha. Itachi had been temperamental, despite his impressive skill at keeping his composure. He was a genius, pure and simple. A genius built for better things than the psychologically taxing work of the shinobi. And like many geniuses had a natural impatience for the system in work around him.

His self-imposed exile more than proves this.

Naruto and Itachi were more alike than they realized. Whereas the child had no more living family, the Uchiha considered Itachi dead and buried. Naruto was seen by the village as no different from the demon lord he houses, hated and shunned by most people to encounter him. Itachi was hated and shunned because he was seen as a traitor, the spoiled genius who forgot the values of filial piety. Muhon-nin. What kind of son was this to have? A disgrace. Blasphemous. The village wanted nothing to do with the both of them. As it is, only shinobi or those with shinobi bloodlines would even speak to the Uchiha prodigy.

Whereas Itachi found a purpose in raising Naruto, the blond found acknowledgement in the older ninja. Itachi pushed him hard from the beginning, training him in levels many chuunin would have died before they accomplished. Naruto found fulfillment in meeting his mentor's expectations, often surprising the older boy when he surpassed his standards with flying colors. They became more than teacher and student. They became brothers, bound by something deeper and more powerful than blood. Their fate would surely become intertwined as if the gods themselves decided it.

The Uchiha clan sought to exploit this closeness in the pair, often using their own substantial influence to make warrantless arrests which only the Hokage would have clearance to pardon. Itachi fought them at every turn, Naruto only doing so under the ANBU captain's orders. As ANBU captain the raven-haired prodigy had political connections of his own, as well as diplomatic immunity in his own village for any crimes he might have had to commit in protecting his charge. The blood war within the clan was one of the unspoken taboos among the noble bloodlines of the Leaf.

Sarutobi walked out of his quarters towards the office on the top floor of the Hokage tower. He slowed his pace, fully aware that it will take him a much longer time to climb the eight flights than he used to. Kami-sama he felt old. There's too much left unfinished, too many sins he held himself accountable for. Naruto was a mistake. He should have been left alone to live his life his own way, never mind the hatred of the village. If he was anything like his father he would soon gain their love anyway.

_Arashi. Forgive me. _

Sarutobi's eyes watered as he faced the Yondaime's portrait. He wanted his son to be seen as a hero, not shunned aside like a pariah. His life was simpler to be sure, everything defined on the basis of orders. Naruto lived purposefully, his every waking moment throwing him deeper and deeper into the chaos the Sandaime created for him. It did not help that the council took advantage of the blonde's "specialized" training. More than once the elders sought to have the boy killed by assigning him missions he was more than likely going to die from. Death by mission was something that was easily written off. Did not the village suffer a casualty percentage of 30 in any given year?

But die he did not. Naruto thrived in the field of combat, no other person could claim his affinity to battle like the son of Kazama Arashi. He slashed and killed his way to victory countless times to the chagrin of the elder council. No single shinobi could match the quality and quantity of the missions accomplished by this less than anonymous genin under Itachi's tutelage. The Uchiha taught him well.

Too well.

Now where there might have been laughter and happiness in the blue eyes of Uzumaki Naruto, there was only a pair of dead blue stones dropped in pools of white. There was no soul residing in his mind, no joy resting in his heart. Naruto had become a puppet, a simple tool of war to be abused by the ruling classes. No ninja deserved this. No human deserved this. The boy's life was defined by orders, stifling and rigid, formulaic. There were no shades of gray, only black and white. Point him at a person who needed to die and that person died. Give him a mission and that mission was accomplished. There was nothing else besides his own life as a shinobi that resembled any normalcy, nothing else but a life of battle and perhaps an early death at the hands of an enemy.

Naruto was as an unsheathed katana. Deadly and merciless, always sharp and hard as steel. But any ninja worth his salt realized that the sheath had a purpose. It kept the weapon from dulling, it kept the edge from chipping. The katana was at its most delicate away from that housing that kept it easy to handle. Sooner or later the pressure will be too much for the boy and he too will snap like thousands of other shinobi before him.

Like a twig.

As he sat down to the mass of paperwork before him, he sent a greeting to the hidden presence in his office. "Jiraiya," Sarutobi said warmly "what a pleasant surprise to see you. How long has it been? Ten, fifteen years?" The air shimmered not six feet from the Hokage, the stealth jutsu dropped unceremoniously. There stood an aging ninja, maybe in his mid fifties, with spiky white hair and red robes. On his feet were wooden geta and a huge scroll was strapped to his back. "See you're still alive ape-face," the shinobi said mirthlessly. "Created any major catastrophes since I've been gone?"

"…"

"My, have I struck a nerve?"

Sarutobi restrained himself from responding to the insult. He was just too old and too weary to be reminded of this. "Why are you here Jiraiya?" the old man asked. "You've come too far just to insult me." The toad sage pursed his lip as he leaned against the wall. "I don't know," he responded "I happen to think no distance is far enough to keep me from pointing out just how badly you screwed up."

"Everything's turned out for the best Jiraiya."

"Don't give me that crap old man," the sennin snapped. "Nothing's ever turned out for the best ever since you signed that directive six years ago. Or did you think I'd forget about Project Nine?" The old man turned his eyes upwards at his pupil, the weariness gone from his brown orbs.

"You know I don't deserve that."

"Damn right. You deserve a lot worse."

Wordlessly the Sandaime picked up a pen and started filling out some forms, the scritch-scritching of the nib the only sound heard. The silence between the two ninja was enormous. Had anybody been cheeky enough to drop a senbon, the soft '_clink_' would have been deafening in this room so totally devoid of sound. "You could have asked me to take him you know," Jiraiya finally said. "I could have taken him away from all of this. Taken him somewhere he won't be seen as a filthy soul who did not deserve to live."

Sarutobi looked into his pupil's eyes, seeing for once the anxiety and remorse residing there. _He blames himself as much as I do_, the Hokage realized. "I will not have him run from close-minded old men Jiraiya," the Sandaime replied with some resolve. "The boy should not have to leave the village he inadvertently saved."

"Even at the cost of his childhood?"

Sarutobi didn't speak, but then again his silence spoke volumes. The Hokage continued writing as he collected himself, still not sure of what to say. "I had no other choice in the matter," the Hokage finally said. "There was no other option to ensure his survival. The council saw to that. They would execute him if I didn't sign the directive. What kind of village would execute six year old boy!"

"The same village that created Orochimaru, ape-face," Jiraiya said gravely. Sarutobi stared down at the requisition forms, his task already forgotten. "The brat would have killed you if he knew," the toad sage said. At that the Hokage had to smile. There was no question which brat the sennin was referring to, though the Hokage didn't think Arashi would have appreciated them talking about him that way. "And don't think I'm very happy about how everything turned out either," Jiraiya added.

The Sandaime sighed. Some things can't be helped.

* * *

The early morning sunrise made Yamanaka Ino blink. It had taken them all that night to grab both of the scrolls they needed. They would have made it back here sooner if it hadn't been for those pesky Sound ninjas. Shaking her head, the blond kunoichi followed Shikamaru and Chouji to the tower gates. Most of the rookie nine were already there, as well as the three really old genin lead by that white-haired guy with the glasses. Ino smiled in his direction and the boy blinked. Shikamaru shot her a disappointed look.

What? He was cute.

Ino walked over to Kiba's team and had a chat with Hinata. Still no word from forehead girl and the rest of their team. Ino bit her lip. This wasn't good. If they didn't make it here in around thirty minutes, they'd be disqualified for sure. "If they aren't here then we have to assume they might have given up," Shikamaru stated, stifling a yawn. "I wouldn't blame them though. This entire exam is getting too troublesome for its own good." The blond kunoichi made her opinions clear when she slapped him upside the head.

"Itai! What the hell was that for?"

"For being an insensitive jerk, moron!"

"Troublesome…"

Chouji's eyes roamed around the grounds until he saw the team from Suna. They didn't even look like they broke a sweat! The boy with "love" tattooed on his forehead noticed him staring and glared. Chouji was so startled by the amount of killing intent he was projecting and involuntarily dropped the bag of chips. The Akamichi cursed inwardly before tentatively picking it up. Thankfully Ino wasn't looking. She was kind of sensitive about those things.

Asuma-sensei met them at the gates and congratulated them for a job well done. Ino wrinkled her nose at his lit cigarette. _Those things will kill him someday_, she said to herself. "Okay," the jounin said "so you passed the teamwork portion of the exams. Next time your individual capacities will be tested. I can't tell you anything about this but I think the examiners will be speaking to you about this in a while." Ino raised her hand.

"Asuma-sensei, has there been any word on forehead…I mean, Sakura?"

"I'm sorry to say that there wasn't. Is there any problem?"

Shikamaru muttered another "troublesome" while Chouji pulled out another bag of chips._ Damn it_, Ino thought to herself. _If Sakura doesn't make it here…_Unfortunately Ino's morning just got a whole lot worse when a certain kunoichi from a certain team made her way to the field. The shadow user saw their eyes met and tapped teammate's shoulder. "Chouji," he whispered "if you value your life you will leave the area at once." The Akamichi's eyes widened with understanding and he scurried away with the lazy ninja.

Dosu and Zaku were also thinking the same thing, and made a hasty exit just as the fireworks began. "Well hello," Kin said with a sneer. "What foul wind blew your slutty blond ass all the way here?" Ino's eye twitched. "What the hell did you call me!" the blond raged.

"D-d-d-did I stu-stutter?"

"Ooh..."

Ino waved her hand away. "Fine," she said "I'm not the type of kunoichi who'd stoop so low as to resort to name calling." Kin's perfectly plucked left eyebrow went up, only to narrow with the right as the blond continued speaking. "Say, that's a very nice outfit you got. Which bargain bin did you pick it out of?"

"Bargain bin! What the hell! This is a uniform damn it!"

"Sure. That's what they all say."

Kin drew her arm back for a punch when Dosu and Zaku restrained her forcibly just as Ino got held back by her teammates. "Women are so troublesome…" Shikamaru said sagely. The other shinobi nodded in agreement, using all their strength to prevent the impending cat-fight.

The delegates from Suna were also expecting Team 7, but for a far different reason. "Well?" Gaara breathed, just as Baki materialized behind them. "As to the Uzumaki brat none of our spies have a lot of information on him," the jounin stated. "The only data we have is that he's been tutored since the age of six by Uchiha Itachi. I don't think he'll prove too much of a difficulty for you three but I'd watch out just the same."

"Wait," Kankuro interjected. "Uchiha? Isn't that the--" the puppet user began, but cut himself off when Temari shot him a sharp look. "I was just going to say that I heard of his name before!" the puppet user said defensively.

Baki nodded. "Uchiha Itachi is certainly well known in the world of shinobi," the jounin explained. "A prodigy who made ANBU at the age of fourteen. He is said to be of the same level as the Fire Country's famous Sannin. Of all the ninjas in Konoha only Copy Nin Hatake Kakashi has a more prestigious reputation. We'd do well to be wary of him." Temari pursed her lips. A team with a genin specially trained by one of the best ninja in the country led by a jounin-sensei who happened to be the Copycat Ninja himself. Oh they can handle them all right. They'll handle them just fine.

Gaara's body started trembling as the Shukaku whispered into his mind. "**That boy!"** the demon said "**You must kill him quickly! He will pose a bigger threat than this idiot sensei of yours would like to tell you!**" Underneath the armor of sand, he cracked a smile. _I intend to do that whether you tell me to or not_, he replied.

_He will die. I will make sure of it… _

Temari looked at her brother with barely restrained anxiety. "Kankuro," she whispered, addressing her brother "have you ever seen Gaara this worked up?" The puppet user shook his head. "No. I don't know how powerful this Uzumaki Naruto is, but he better watch out for Gaara."

All conversation among the ninja ceased as the brunette with the trench coat waltzed up a raised area with a wireless mic and a wooden clipboard in hand. "Participants of this year's chuunin exams," Anko called. "My name is Mitarashi Anko and I'm here to tell all of you about the next phase of the exam."

Ino blinked, surprised that the announcement was being made. "What the hell!" she yelled. "Forehead girl's not even here yet!" Shikamaru kept his face impassive, still not sure as to whether he could tell her his opinion and not receive a backhand for his trouble. "The next phase of the exam involves a preliminary tournament which will cut the remaining participants' number in half," Anko continued. "You will all be matched up individually with another genin and the winners will be advancing to the main matches in a month's time."

"Any one of you who wish to forfeit at this point of the competition may opt to do so now. Will anybody choose to forfeit at this point?"

A bespectacled teenager raised his hand. Anko made a note in the clipboard. "The records show that Yakushi Kabuto has forfeited his right to advance in the competition. As of this moment there are seventeen remaining participants."

"Hey wait a minute!" Ino yelled, raising her voice over the speakers. "Forehead girl and Sasuke-kun aren't even here yet! How the hell do you propose to start without them!" Anko shot her a glare. "If they can't make it here in approximately three hundred seconds then their disqualified and that's that!" she yelled back. "I doubt if those idiots can move fast enough to meet the deadline if Kakashi's training them. The guy can't make it in time for anything if his life depended on it."

"Damn it…" Ino seethed. Kin blinked, turning towards the blond. "This team you speak of," the Sound kunoichi asked. "Did they happen to have a rather eccentric-looking blond with a horribly virulent orange tracksuit with them?" Ino looked at her strangely before she nodded. Dosu exchanged looks with Zaku. "Something must have happened," Zaku said, crossing his arms. "Those three can't have been beaten. They're more powerful than any team we've ever met on this little shindig."

ShikaInoCho stared at the Sound genin. "You met Sakura's team?" Shikamaru asked. "And they're the most powerful team you've ever seen?" Chouji added, equally incredulous. Ino shot a glance at the delegates from Suna, remembering how the redhead killed some Rain ninja with the sand in his gourd. _They probably never met up with those guys_, she reasoned.

Gaara's fists started to clench and unclench as his eyes started to gleam with the insanity within. "This is bad Temari, really bad," Kankuro observed. "Gaara's starting to go crazy and I doubt any of us can hold him back should he lose himself now." Temari gripped her fan out of habit, fearful at what kind of shit would hit in the next few minutes if the orange-clad brat wouldn't show up in time to qualify.

Suddenly Kiba piped up. "You hear that?" the dog ninja asked, the dog in his hoodie confirming the faint sound with some excited yipping. The two Hyuuga in the crowd of ninja activated their Byakugan, the rest of the genin turning their direction at where the lavender-eyed ninja were training their sights on.

"I see something," Hyuuga Neji reported. "Moving fast and hard. Five kilometers away." The others tensed up, unsure of what to expect as the long-awaited team sped up towards them. Without warning an explosion of leaves swirled up into the air about twenty feet, forming a powerful whirlwind that forced the observers back. Gaara's lips formed into a sinister smile. "There you are," he breathed.

When the leaves cleared they revealed Team Seven alongside Hatake Kakashi and a weasel-masked ANBU. Uzumaki Naruto held up the front, his hands held together in the final seal of the **Shunshin no jutsu** (Body-flicker) that transported the five of them here in the nick of time. The cycloptic jounin looked up from his book.

"Oh hello. Why are you staring at us like that?"

**

* * *

**

AN: Think of this as a preparation chapter (meaning I was too lazy to write something more interesting) for when the REAL fireworks begin. Please review


	16. Longing

**Longing**

Irritated, Sasuke rubbed the sore spot on his neck, wincing when his fingers made contact with the cursed marking. His chakra was all out of whack, and with the preliminary matches fast approaching this did not bode well for the young Uchiha. Out of the corner of his eyes he observed his teammates. Sakura and Ino were conversing animatedly, but when the kunoichi caught his eye she became more somber. Naruto was looking in another direction, his dead blue eyes scanning the arena.

The young raven haired shinobi stared at his hands. _My power is not enough_, he thought to himself. _I will need to grow even stronger than before. Strong enough to kill _him. Involuntarily Sasuke started shaking where he stood, his hands convulsing in spasms at his own helplessness to remedy his situation.

He remembered the power coursing through his body when the curse seal activated itself. Uchiha Sasuke had never felt such power rushing through him before, though even then he wasn't strong enough to defeat oniisan's ward. He clenched his fist. He had to bring Itachi back to the clan. He had to.

But how? Where was the power he sought to be had? Sasuke groaned inwardly. He would find it. Wherever it was.

Ino glanced over at Sasuke's direction and whispered in Sakura's ear. "Is it me, or is Sasuke-kun getting a bit too angsty for his own good?" the blond kunoichi said. The other girl looked in her teammates direction. "We ran into a little trouble back in the Forest of Death," Sakura lied, automatically reverting to the cover story Itachi-sempai thought up for them. "Both him and Naruto were almost critically injured and they haven't really recovered from that." Smart. As few details as possible.

Ino nodded, not even bothering to cross check any details. They were all right and that's all that mattered. Playfully, she slapped Naruto across the shoulder, making the orange-clad genin blink. "Hey it's okay to be nervous!" she said. "I'm sure you'd do great Naruto!"

The other blond stared in askance as Ino went off to address another unfamiliar face. Naruto realized this was some form of social interaction and made a mental note to research the appropriate responses for these informal settings. He felt another presence come up behind him and kept his eyes trained on the arena in the center of the building. The girl went up to the railing and laid her elbows on the metal, keeping her attention on the Sandaime's speech. It was a minute more before she spoke again, this time she had a tone of decided uncertainty.

"Um…"

"Hai, kunoichi-san?"

"I guess I want to say thanks for you saving me back there," Kin said, contemplating he Hokage's face. The Sound kunoichi kept silent for a few moments before turning to the blond with a look of fury in her eyes. "But if you think I'm going to go easy on you because of that," she seethed "you better cut down on whatever the hell it is you're smoking blondie, cause I won't!" With that, the brunette turned, flipping her hair and tromped over to where the rest of her team. She met Zaku's amused smirk with a backhand to the face and Dosu found it easier to keep his opinions to himself.

Involuntarily, Naruto inhaled. Her hair smelled like freshly-picked green apples. It was a lingering scent that was quickly washed away by the arena ventilation system but the memory stayed in his mind for a good long while. As his eyes closed he was met with a very familiar voice from the very depths of his mind. The shadows in the dark cage moved, all nine tails swishing in annoyance as cold slitted eyes glowed in the darkness.

**Silly little boy…** the demon fox cooed. **So the living weapon does respond to hormonal cycles after all. How terribly weak. How terribly human!** The Kyuubi's laughter resounded throughout the depths of Naruto's mind. Annoyed, the blond slapped on his mental walls in an attempt to block out the voice.

**But what would you even know about these things? **The fox snorted.** Your precious sensei killed off your heart in an attempt to make you stronger. In turn you grew to depend on my power far too many instances for this pathetic seal that the _other fool_ made for you. **The demon fox laughed darkly, licking his lips and caressing all the words.

**Soon Naruto. Your soul will be mine and I will have my revenge.**

The mental barriers slapped on just in time to cut off the last word. It was no use. Naruto heard every word the Kyuubi said, but his training allowed him to cut it off from memory. He did not allow himself to despair, not even to consider the thought of his own destruction. He was far too well trained for that. Instead his mind lingered on another thought.

The smell of freshly-picked green apples.

xxxx

Aburame Shino nodded to Kurenai as he stepped forward to face the Sound genin Kinuta Dosu. She had given him explicit instructions to finish the match as soon as possible, and to use as few of his signature techniques as well. Shino understood. This was only a preliminary match up and any technique used here would inevitably be catalogued by the others to use against him in the main matches. As far as he was concerned, the less the enemy knew about him, the better.

Hyuuga Hinata wished him good luck as Inuzuka Kiba made a chorused _hurrah_ with the diminutive Akamaru. The Hyuuga heiress looked at the other competitors, wondering not for the first time if she could manage a victory with the odds facing her. Seeing her distress, Kurenai laid her hand on the girl's shoulder and said a word of reassurance. "You'll do fine Hinata," the jounin said. "You trained long and hard for this, give yourself a break." Hinata poked her fingers together.

"T-t-that's n-n-not w-what I was worried about," she stammered. Kurenai looked at her oddly. Hinata pointed towards an orange-clad figure in the distance. "I just noticed that his eyes," the heiress said "they look so…sad."

The jounin followed her pupil's gaze but could see no trace of this sadness the girl was pointing out. All she saw were dead blue eyes staring blankly ahead. Kurenai explained it away as another manifestation of the Byakugan in her student. The Hyuuga bloodline did have a penchant for reading into other people's emotions, but for now the kunoichi had one other alternate explanation.

Hyuuga Hinata had never once known acknowledgement from her father. All her life she spent in vain trying to meet his standards and never once succeeding. Hyuuga Hiashi saw his own daughter as a failure, a weakling unworthy of the clan name. Though through the months Kurenai spent teaching Hinata gave her a bit more confidence than before, it was still just a short bit above nonexistent.

The scarlet eyed jounin watched Itachi's protégé, following him with her eyes. He seemed nothing like the insane super weapon the rumors were making him out to be. She saw someone in desperate need of acknowledgement, however powerful he became did not matter unless this end was met. In the end it was clear why the Hyuuga Heiress recognized this so easily in the blond boy.

Uzumaki Naruto wanted the same kind of approval Hinata did.

Kiba roared as the opponent was brought down with a mighty ax kick. Cheers were met all around as Shino staggered victoriously back to the stairway, his opponent's amplifiers all clogged with the Kikaichuu (Destruction Bugs) that was the signature technique of the Aburame clan. Despite herself Kurenai smiled as he noticed the Aburame fighting down a grin of his own. Looks like he wasn't as unflappable as most thought him to be, she realized.

"Winner, Aburame Shino," Hayate coughed.

xxxx

Naruto looked on at the animated display of affection Aburame Shino was receiving from his team. He kept his face impassive as they lavished praises upon him, seeing the glimpses of ecstasy hidden beneath that supposed unflappable façade. His fist clenched on its own.

Another match came and went, this time with Hyuuga Neji and Akado Yoroi. Another display of affection, this time less animated than before, when the Hyuuga beat the older genin with a well placed **Hakke Rokujuuyonshou** (**Eight Trigrams, Sixty-Four Palms of the Hand**) combo, immobilizing the opponent's chakra coils and rendering him unable to use his chakra-absorbing technique.

"Naruto."

Sakura's voice surprised him out of his reverie. The kunoichi looked at him inquiringly before she shook her head. "You're up," she said, pointing to the display screen. _Uzumaki Naruto vs. TenTen_, he read. The girl with buns in her hair leapt down to the arena, brandishing a pair of kunai as she addressed her teammates.

"Don't worry about me you guys!" TenTen called "I'll win this one too!" The boy named Rock Lee pumped his fist in the air. "Let your youthful vigor burn, TenTen-chan!" the taijutsu specialist screamed. "Show him the power of the flames of youth! Uooh!"

Naruto looked up and blurred onto the arena, his dead blue eyes staring intently at his opponent. TenTen moved into a stance as Naruto dropped into his, surprise marring the face of the kunoichi as she realized this was precisely the stance Neji was prone to using. "Jyuuken?" she whispered, disbelief undisguised in her voice. "How?"

The Hyuuga in the crowd were just as surprised. Hinata turned worriedly at her cousin Neji, but the older boy merely grimaced. "It's not possible for anyone other than Hyuuga to use the Jyuuken," the prodigy stated. "This is some sort of joke."

Gai's expression turned serious, the first to notice being Rock Lee. "Gai-sensei, do you know what that strange taijutsu is?" the bowl-cut genin asked. The older man nodded, keeping his attention riveted on the blond. "Eight Trigrams is a taijutsu used by one of the older clans of Water Country," the jounin said. "It's supposed to be one of the oldest fighting styles in existence. I never thought I'd see it performed here."

Lee looked at the blond in wonder. What fearsome taijutsu Naruto-kun must have! His clenched fist began to shake in excitement as tears began to form in the corners of his eyes. "Uooh!" he exclaimed. "Such a quandary I am in! On one hand I must offer support for my teammate and on the other I wish to cheer for Naruto so we may face off against each other in a fierce whirlwind of youth!" Flames formed in the eyes of Green Beast jr.

Gai flipped his thumb up, causing his teeth to _ping_. "Yes my adorable student! Such an opponent would come only once a hundred, nay a thousand years! You would be a disgrace to your youth if you don't challenge him to battle!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

When the two had hugged in a fierce display of their so-called manly affection, TenTen covered the side of her face with a palm for fear of burning her eyes out with the display. Naruto on the other hand stared in wonder. He didn't understand these people and their fixation on these emotional displays, but for some reason he wished to know more about it.

"Competitors, are you ready?"

Naruto's attention snapped back to the match, his opponent having drawn a pair of kunai from her pouch. He dropped back into his stance and leveled his dead blue eyes at the kunoichi, intent on finishing this battle as soon as possible. Hayate's hand dropped, and the pair became a single blur of motion a blur of motion.

xxxxx

"So this is Itachi-kun's boy," Asuma said, inhaling another lungful of toxic cigarette emissions. "Uchiha has trained him well." Kurenai concurred, keeping her attention on the complexities of each of the combinations the blond unleashed. No ordinary genin could perform them without the rigorous discipline of ANBU-class training.

Ino winced as Naruto caught his opponent in an earth-shaking spin kick. TenTen was launched six feet backwards and barely managed to evade a flurry of shuriken launched at her. The edged projectiles embedded themselves in the floor as the kunoichi flipped backwards to safety at a distance.

"The girl will lose," Shikamaru said simply. The remark earned him a slap on the back of his head. "Itai!" the pony-tailed genin exclaimed. "What the hell was that for?"

"For being a male chauvinist pig, moron!" Ino yelled. "You think that just because Naruto's a guy TenTen-chan would automatically lose?"

Kin shook her head. "Pineapple head's right," the kunoichi declared. "You people haven't seen him fight, that's why." Dosu nodded sagely. "The girl'll never know what hit her," added the bandaged genin.

Sakura glanced over at Sasuke's direction, a worried look on her face. Naruto was possibly the only person ever to defeat Sasuke besides his brother. He'll probably do something brash and reckless to compete with the display the blond genin was giving the crowd. That was Sasuke's nature. He had to compete with everyone to prove he was the best.

_Please Naruto_¸ Sakura prayed silently. _Just finish the match quickly._

xxxx

TenTen in the meantime was already breathing hard. She's used up most of her stamina trying to keep up with the strange blond in orange clothes. This Uzumaki Naruto was a lot more powerful than anyone she's ever fought, and having been the constant sparring partner of the number one rookie of their year that was a statement in itself.

Naruto held his stance, his brow barely flecked with sweat while the kunoichi's Chinese blouse was soaked with it. _His stamina's almost as good as Lee's_, TenTen thought bitterly. This entire battle was starting to come undone around her and she's barely been able to touch her opponent at all. "Time for some desperate measures," she said out loud.

TenTen had been fingering a pair of smoke grenades in her palm for the better part of the minute. Reviewing what she'd seen so far, it seemed highly unlikely she'd ever succeed in a direct close-combat assault. She'd have to use her trump card a bit earlier than she anticipated, that's all.

Naruto's eyes didn't even blink at the sudden explosive impact of the smoke grenades. Nor at the sight of a pair of dragons rising to the ceiling. Though he did have some attraction for really flashy ninjutsu, a lot of the time one could never judge a technique's strength by the aesthetic qualities of its pyrotechnics. So it was with this move.

A few moments later the dragons dissolved to form a pair of scrolls spiraling upwards and TenTen's form rocketing in between. She touched her recently cut thumbs on each of the kanji and pulled out a single edged weapon from each one. Kunai, sickle, shuriken and the occasional tanto blade was launched directly at Naruto with the momentum of TenTen's spin.

Naruto wasn't even phased as his hands moved through some seals, gathering chakra and the surrounding moisture to create the preparation for the jutsu he was to create. "**Suiton: Mizu no Tatsumaki!**" (**Water Release: Tornado of Water!**) the living weapon called.

xxxx

Kakashi's eye looked up from his book, his interest piqued. "Impressive recovery, ne?" he asked, directing the question at his self-proclaimed eternal rival. Gai smiled, _ping_ing his teeth. "Ah, my eternal rival," he drawled. "TenTen-chan is in no way finished yet."

Kakashi looked back on the current page he was reading, his attention no longer on the match. "We'll see," he said.

xxxx

TenTen looked with disbelief at the swirling funnel of water encasing her opponent. All the projectiles from her attack was knocked away, slamming the edged weapons on the floor surrounding the boy. The water had not even started to drain away when the kunoichi exploded into motion upon hitting the ground.

TenTen launched herself into the air again. "I'm not done yet!" she screamed, arcing her body to pull on the chakra strings she discreetly attached to the weapons. Whipping her arms backwards, she planned to use the whiplash motion of the chakra strings to launch a two-sided attack at the boy. Water twister or not, a combined attack from two directions was in itself hard to block, especially if the ninja had just finished launching a technique.

At least that was the theory.

Naruto knew that at the moment he was a sitting duck. His Suiton jutsu was only now starting to drain away and it would be pointless to restart it again. In microseconds he formulated a plan born of countless hours of ninjutsu training and flashed his hands into another set of seals.

"**Doton! Doryuu Heki! **(**Earth Release! Earth Style Wall!**)"

The water from the previous jutsu mixed with some dirt on the floor and Naruto combined them both to make a sort of sludge mixture he used as a base for the defensive maneuver. With the little dirt he found on the floor he was able to create a makeshift barrier charged with his own chakra, effectively defending a six foot square section of the floor with his own body protected from the rain of projectiles launched from two directions. The weapons impacted with a loud _clang_ as the flimsy earth wall miraculously held.

TenTen used the moment of preoccupation to launch herself at her distracted opponent, who at the moment was still concentrating on maintaining the earth barrier. The kunoichi knocked Naruto over and held a kunai over his throat. "So," she said, a mischievous smile on her face. "Do you give?"

The smile disappeared instantly when she felt the touch on her back. She saw out of the corner of her eye another Naruto, who has apparently stuck something on her back. "Surrender or I let go of the explosive note," the boy said dryly.

TenTen felt the familiar pulse of chakra used to activate an exploding tag and knew that with that much she would be obliterated by the explosion that would follow. Naruto kept his hand firmly on her back as she got up, threw her kunai aside and placed both hands behind her head. Hayate saw this sign of surrender and ended the match in favor of Uzumaki Naruto.

The other Naruto had just gotten up when TenTen addressed the one behind her. "Impressive move Uzumaki-san," she said. "What kind of clone was that anyway? He felt too real to be an ordinary bunshin."

Naruto nodded, removing the explosive note from TenTen's back and crumpling it in his hand. "That's because he's not the clone," he replied, as the explosive note detonated in his closed fist, making him come apart in a swirl of mist.

TenTen's mouth dropped. "You mean I actually had you and I surrendered?" she asked, incredulous. Naruto nodded, and upon thanking her for the match, he headed up to the stands where his team waited. He had barely rested his hands on the rails when Kin came up behind him again. The girl took up a spot to his left and was silent for a few moments before she spoke.

"Real sneaky blondie."

"Hai."

Naruto's eyes were on the LCD monitor, waiting for who would fight next. "I only showed her the flop cards," he stated. "She should have waited for the river." Kin looked at him with a confused look until he added "It's hold 'em poker."

"You play poker?"

"Hai. Itachi-sensei taught me."

Kin smiled despite herself. "So you aren't all business after all," she retorted. "Think you could teach me to play?" The blond's dead blue eyes swiveled from the now rapidly flashing LCD monitor and onto the brunette. "Hai," he said finally.

Ino watched this display with growing interest and whispered in Zaku's ear. "Is it just me or is your teammate sort of flirting with Naruto-kun?" she said. Zaku crossed his arms. "Always knew that bastard was gay," he said.

Suddenly a large mass of killing intent found its way to the spiky-headed shinobi. "I'm a girl you moron," Kin seethed. "Are you somehow insinuating that I'm not feminine enough? Or feminine at all?"

Zaku raised his hands in self defense. "No! It's just that I never really thought of you like you're a girl…uh I mean--"

Shikamaru grimaced as Kin's sandal made contact with Zaku's "family jewels." "Troublesome," the genius muttered absently, watching the genin cry in front of him. _This was why the wise man always kept his mouth shut in the end…_

Naruto on the other hand kept his eyes on his recently defeated opponent. The other members of her team were congratulating her, but for what reason he didn't understand. She just lost didn't she? If Itachi-sensei were here and that happened to him, it would have meant ten laps around the village and a thousand pushups on each single arm.

His own team didn't even approach him. Sakura and Sasuke had always been distant, but somehow he thought that shouldn't have been the case. To them he was something to be feared, exactly the impression Itachi-sensei taught him to give out. Was what his sensei and commander wrong? What else was there? He was shinobi for Kami-sama's sake. There was supposed to be nothing else.

Naruto had lived a life of rigorous routine and precise calculations. If anything these new concepts would only serve to distract him further. He tried to push them out of his mind but was assailed with the smell of freshly-picked green apples. He looked to his left and saw Kin's hair stirring slightly. A breeze must have entered the hall, as to how it made it this far, he didn't know.

Kin saw him staring after a few moments and glanced his way. "What?" she asked, a faint red discoloration staining her cheeks. Naruto looked at her with a tilted head, his gaze awful and penetrating. Her blush got worse when he suddenly took her by the hand. She didn't expect the words he used though.

"Your pulse is too quick," he quipped. "You should keep your breathing steady and slow it down or your heart will start to palpitate." Kin grabbed her hand away, muttering something about "stupid boys." Ino lay a hand on the blond shinobi's shoulder, shaking her head exasperatedly. "You really have much to learn about women," she said sagely.

xxxxx

A/N: Okay so I'm back! Anybody miss me? (looks and sees angry crowd) Okay so maybe I wasn't too regular with the updates. But it wasn't my fault! Writer's block spares no one! No one I tell you!

Anyway.

The real reason is actually because I've started following the World Poker Tour. You know, people who play poker professionally. It's so bloody cool. Right now I'm stocking up on chapters so I have only to add the chapters and not have to upload them individually per update. Anyway, hope you guys get to like the new developments. Watch out for more cool stuff and action packed matches.

And please do review.

PS: A friend of mine is looking for a job. Anybody out there in the Manila area who know of a decent place of employment? Or anybody who'd be willing to take a chance on a relatively unknown Filipino graphics/creative writing specialist?


	17. I Choose

**I Choose…**

"Are you even supposed to be here?"

Uchiha Itachi looked up to see a purple-haired ANBU in a cat mask. Uzuki Yuugao took off her facial covering and saluted, holding the pose until Itachi nodded acknowledgement.

The kunoichi found him in the middle of Konoha park, right in front of the ninja memorial monument. The ANBU captain's onyx eyes were trained on the engraved names, the one he's staring at very much familiar to girl.

Uchiha Shisui.

"It isn't healthy to dwell on these things you know."

Itachi looked up again, his face a blank mask. "If I wanted your opinion I'll give it to you," was the reply. Yuugao shook her head. "Naruto-kun's match must have been announced by now. Aren't you even going to watch?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"With all due respect captain," Yuugao drawled "you really are being more difficult than necessary." Itachi got up from his kneeling position and slipped his own weasel mask on, not even turning to face his vice captain. "There's no reason for me to be there. He's sempai's responsibility now. Besides, why would I even want to watch something that's a sure thing?"

"Arrogant aren't we?"

Itachi adjusted his ninja-to, fingering the leather-wrapped hilt as he shifted it into position. "Konoha genin have gotten weak," the ANBU began, his voice laced with contempt. "None of them have what it takes to survive in a real battle, one where all the stakes are stacked against you."

"This isn't era you knew captain. War isn't looming over every corner like in the old days."

"That's not even an excuse."

Yuugao sighed. _This again._ "Look," she said "Why don't we just go over at the arena and go see Naruto's match. I'm sure all fifty seconds of it's going to be eventful." The kunoichi didn't lie to herself. Itachi's protégé would be hard pressed to find a single opponent skilled enough to face off against him.

"No."

The kunoichi frowned despite herself. "Captain may I be frank?"

"No but go ahead anyway."

"Just what the hell has gotten into you?" Yuugao exclaimed. "You're bitching worse than usual! And by that I mean even less tolerable than Mitarashi Anko when she's PMSing. Care to explain?"

"Not really."

"Captain…"

Itachi didn't even flinch at the warning tone in Yuugao's words. Instead, he just did what any guy would do when confronted with matters that didn't get explained with single syllable replies.

He walked away.

Yuugao threw her hands in the air, snorting in exasperation. Without warning she rushed Itachi from his blind spot, intending to tackle him from behind. If this had been anyone else, the plan would have worked.

But this was Uchiha Itachi. Of course it didn't work.

The kunoichi refused to flinch at the point of the kunai dangling dangerously from her left cornea. The other ANBU's left elbow was pinned against her throat, only allowing enough space for Yuugao to breathe or speak a few words.

"What do you really want Uzuki?"

Yuugao glared. As if it wasn't blaringly obvious by now. "Naruto was your student for the better part of six years you prissy bitch," she spat. "You can't just act like he was never a part of your life. The least you could do is go see his match before you turn over his training to Kakashi-sempai."

The elbow relaxed, the kunai put away. Itachi got up from Yuugao's still prone form, striding purposefully away and not for one moment turning back. The kunoichi pulled herself up, a furious expression on her face.

"So that's it? You're just gonna drop the kid like he never once mattered to you?"

Itachi paused and turned his head slightly back. "It'll serve Naruto well in the end," he stated simply. "A ninja does not need these bonds. They just get in the way."

"Is that what you think?" Yuugao yelled, stomping over to where Itachi stood. "Then what about Sasuke? What about your family? Do you think you could do the same to those you care the most about?"

The masked shinobi visibly flinched. Itachi's fingers strayed to the ninja-to strapped to his belt, something he did when he needed to consider something. "Yes," he said simply. "If need be."

Yuugao's slap resounded through the park, the impact shattering the left half of Itachi's porcelain mask. "I used to have respect for you captain," she glowered. "You of all people should know that our precious people are the only ones keeping us sane in this twisted world." Itachi's half-masked stare pierced into the kunoichi's soul.

"Whose to say I still am anyway?" he remarked.

xxxxx

"**Gatsuuga!**" (**Dual Piercing Fang!**)

Uchiha Sasuke barely dodged another tandem strike by the dog ninja and his familiar, using the predictive capabilities of his bloodline to avoid the fierce whirling drills that were Inuzuka Kiba and Akamaru. The Inuzuka on his own was a hard enough challenge, but with the addition of the henge'd Akamaru, the scales just tipped against the younger Uchiha prodigy.

"What's the matter?" Kiba taunted, laughing as he positioned himself for another strike. "Boy genius finally figure out he's outclassed? It was bound to happen you know."

Sasuke snarled, causing the Inuzuka to grin again. He was Uchiha damn it! He wasn't supposed to lose this badly to some grungy kid and his dog! Sasuke kept his eyes on the target, his Sharingan spinning wildly as he flashed through some seals. Filling his lungs with chakra, the Uchiha was about to let loose one of his family's most damaging strikes when—

"**Gatsuuga!**"

Sasuke broke off the assault, bringing both arms together in a block as the whirling drills slammed into him, bringing him crashing down about fifteen feet from where he was standing. His lungs burned from when he prematurely stopped the fire jutsu, and Kiba took delight in his prone form by laughing mockingly for the umpteenth time since the match began.

"Sasuke is letting his anger get the better of him," Aburame Shino quipped. "Kiba is taking advantage of his natural arrogance and lack of control, plus the added speed of his Shikakyuu no jutsu (Four-Legs technique) makes his attacks all the harder to avoid, even if one could see them beforehand." Hinata simply looked on, her fingers poking against each other as she silently cheered for her teammate.

Naruto for one agreed with the bespectacled genin's assessment. If Sasuke cannot get his anger under control, he would very well be throwing away any chances he had of winning this match. Kiba's strategy was working its magic, and with the two-to-one advantage, the Inuzuka would well be on his way to actually defeating the prideful Uchiha.

"Go Sasuke-kun! You can still do it!"

Naruto was surprised to find the pink-haired kunoichi screaming at the top of her lungs. What was she trying to accomplish? The blond was mulling this over when the Sound kunoichi spoke again. "Can't believe you Konoha weaklings actually think cheering for your teammate will actually help him at this point," Kin drawled. "Uchiha dug his own grave, and nothing you say or do will change that now."

Sakura gave her a withering glare, to which Kin returned with an expression that simply said "Oh, now what are you going to do?" Ino pushed aside Naruto and stood in front of the pair, pleading with a "can't we all just get along?" Kin laughed at her efforts.

"Figures you'd say something like that, piggy-chan."

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME!"

Naruto slammed the edge of his palms into the pressure points on their shoulders, dropping them both like lead balloons. The move left the kunoichis with little to no feeling in the left side of their bodies. "Now is not the time to fight," he stated. "There will be more opportunities for combat in the future, just not here." Ino drilled her own corn-blue eyes at the boy and muttered "geez big forehead, didn't anybody tell this guy it's rude to hit girls?" The blond genin ignored the comment and turned his attentions back to the match.

"Guess it was just a fluke that you made top rookie," Kiba taunted, his eyes alert for any change in Sasuke's stance as he made silent hand signals to direct his pet of the next assault. Akamaru-henge grinned maniacally, positioning himself discreetly in their opponent's seven o' clock at eight meters away. "Maybe your old man went to the instructors and asked them to give the spot to you, seeing as his pwecious wittle Sasuke-chan wants so bad to be like his oniisan. I didn't think you had it in you Uchiha--"

"THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU!"

"Inuzuka-san's first mistake," Uzumaki offered. "There's a difference between dangling Sasuke by the nose in playing to his anger, and inciting him into full blown fury. Kiba-san will lose. Believe it."

True, Sasuke still had the disadvantage. Calculating the sums quickly in his head, Naruto realized that the Uchiha had chakra enough to last him one C-class jutsu, or a pair of D class ones. Nothing that would incapacitate both Kibas of course, but then again if his former sensei had anything to say on the matter, Sasuke would still find a way to make the impossible happen without using chakra. It was only a matter of time before the boy revealed his hand, that's all.

The Uchiha found himself on the flat of his back after another pair of Piercing Fangs dropped him hard into the floor. Palming a pair of powder grenades from his pouch, he let fly the small black orbs into the quickly approaching Kibas' face, stopping them in their tracks as the irritant forced its way into their eyes.

"Argh!" Kiba roared, rubbing his eyes fiercely as tears began to form. "You think this'll stop me an' Akamaru? We may not be able to see you, but we sure as hell can still smell you!"

"**Gatsuuga!**"

The twin whirlwinds ripped through the air and smashed Sasuke into the ground. The Uchiha was losing consciousness quickly, his battered body quickly succumbing to the pain of the consecutive Tsuuga strikes. Kiba was laughing his head off, his eyes still forced closed by the chemical irritants as Akamaru-henge's. "My clan specializes in using out sense of smell," he spat. "I'll just follow your scent trails. This stuff's got nothing on me!"

Sasuke pried himself from his prone position, gritting his teeth at the smug look on the Inuzuka's face. This can't go on, he thought to himself. He fingered the weapons remaining in his pouch. Just a few kunai and a couple dozen explosive tags left. Maybe three windmill shuriken. A few meters of ninja wire was wrapped discreetly against his right elbow underneath the wrappings.

The Uchiha racked his brain. There was actually a lot of accuracy behind the statement that Sasuke was a genius in a class all his own. Despite his familiarity in the chaotic throes of actual combat, behind the boy's impressive battle skills is a formidable mind capable of making split second decisions in pressure situations.

Like a true ninja.

Kiba poised himself to strike, Akamaru positioning himself directly at his master's eight o' clock. Another Gatsuuga would cripple Sasuke at this point, but there was no use underestimating the number one rookie even when he was about to go down.

"Any last words Uchiha?"

Sasuke smirked, fingering one of the three remaining windmill shuriken in his pouch. There was no reason to reveal his hand just yet. "Bite me, dog boy," he said. Kiba's canines glimmered with saliva as the dog ninja lowered his body for his finishing strike.

"That can be arranged! **Gatsuuga!**"

The flare of smoke grenades obscured the view for a few seconds, but none of the shinobi in the audience even dared to blink. Naruto was the first to break the silence with "It's over. It's a checkmate."

The two Hyuuga in the audience hurriedly activated their bloodline. Hinata let out a small yelp at what she saw. The smoke cleared to reveal Kiba and Akamaru tangled in what looked like ninja wire. A couple of dozen explosive tags were strung along the lengths of the wire, creating a deadly binding that wrapped tightly around the dog ninja and his familiar. The wires were bound to the far walls of the arena, stuck in place thanks to three windmill shuriken.

"**Sharingan Soufuusha Sannotachi: Kumoshibari Bakuha no jutsu, (Sharingan Windmill Triple Blade: Exploding Spider Bind Technique)**" Sasuke stated, passing his chakra along the wire and activating the series of explosive tags. "Game over, dog boy."

The string of explosive tags started detonating one after another, creating a deadly domino effect that quickly moved along the ninja wire. Kiba struggled uselessly against the binds before the explosions finally reached him.

Boom.

The Inuzuka and his familiar were flung backwards at breakneck speeds, slamming simultaneously into a wall. Hayate let out another cough, declaring the match in Sasuke's favor before the Uchiha passed out.

Sakura was wringing her fingers as the medic nins took her teammate and his opponent away. This was too much, she decided. She'd raise her hand, forfeit and it would all be over. One glance at Ino revealed that she had been affected by the match as much as she had. Would she forfeit?

Sakura was about to open her mouth when a hand clamped down on it. She turned and saw the dead blue eyes of Uzumaki Naruto staring her down. "You quit, and I will kill you in your sleep," he stated. Now, Sakura knew enough about the enigmatic blond to know that he rarely ever joked. Ino's eyes opened wide, indicating that she heard the whispered threat as well.

"Don't focus on your hesitation," the blond genin continued, a tad softer this time. "Pain is a part of life. Ignoring it means you ignore a part of what you must experience in your path to power. Ignore it and forge your own path, one all your own."

Naruto removed his hand from Sakura's mouth, stepped back and turned his eyes on the view screen, waiting for the LCD to declare the next match. The pink-haired kunoichi looked at the boy with wonder. _Okay_, she admitted to herself. _That was just weird_.

The blond genin barely reacted at the violent shove from behind. He turned and saw Yamanaka Ino glowering at him. "Oi, orange bastard," she said. "If you think you can get away with threatening forehead girl like you did, you got another thing--"

Ino found herself backing away involuntarily. A sickening sensation slid up her body from the toes up, and she found herself unable to stop shaking. This fear, this fear was—

"…coming?" Ino managed to finish, all the threats lost on the tip of her tongue. The blond kunoichi fell on her butt, her eyes looking intently at the other blond. "Sakura-san has no reason to give up," Naruto remarked, his gaze never leaving Ino "and if that was your impression perhaps it would be best if you kept away from the conversation of other people. Do we have an understanding, Yamanaka-san?"

Ino nodded dumbly, her teammates already tensing up for a brawl while Asuma struggled to keep from drawing weapons on a genin. Naruto ignored the others and nodded, seemingly satisfied with the response. The LCD monitor stopped at _Yamanaka Ino vs. Sabaku no Temari_

"I believe it's your match," the cryptic blond stated. "Ganbare, Yamanaka-san."

xxxxxx

Yuugao stared dumbly at Itachi's retreating form, her tongue at a loss for what to say. Itachi was already fifteen feet away before she managed to find her voice again.

"Wait!"

Itachi paused, still not facing his subordinate. "What is it now Uzuki?" he drawled. "Care to give me more unsolicited advice?"

She bit her lip. "You losing Shisui does not give you reason to shove everyone away," Yuugao began. "One of these days you're going to have to teach yourself how to use your heart again. Your continued sanity may depend on it, Captain."

Itachi kept his back turned. The silence between them was almost deafening amidst the noise of Konoha park. "Sometimes I wonder," the ANBU said "if it even matters anymore." The Uchiha raised his hands, staring at them as if they were the most fascinating thing in the world.

"These hands have done too much," Itachi said "too much for me to forget even now. If my precious people are the only lines I have to my own sanity, then the ties are pretty flimsy indeed." The Uchiha continued staring at his hands until his gaze fell on Yuugao yet again.

"For the things we've done, it's a wonder people still believe in us."

Yuugao watched her captain walk away, noticeably dragging his feet. She had just seen the darkest parts of Uchiha Itachi's shattered soul, however inadvertently. _Perhaps none of us deserve redemption_, she said to herself. _But I'm one to believe you come pretty close, Captain._

The kunoichi flickered away, a gust of wind the only clue to her departure.

xxxxx

AN: Sorry for the late update. I got lost on the road of life.

Okay so that's a lousy excuse. But I really did mean to update more often! Promise! The only problem being that my beta tester never did bnother to get back to me (iceprincess421! Where the heck are you!). I actually have the next chapter over and done with, and if koorime doesn't get back to me, I guess I'll just post it without beta testing it.

If anybody would like to preview my stuff, please feel free to reply in the reviews thread. I'm having trouble fixing the continuity as it is.


	18. Suspiscions

**Suspicions**

"**Ninpo! Kamaitachi!**" (**Ninja Magic! Cutting Whirlwind!**)

Ino screamed as the gusts of wind sliced through her skin. Temari grinned, expecting no less than her total domination of her opponent. Kankuro pinched the bridge of his nose, saying something along the lines of "barbaric woman."

Gaara's eyes followed only one person in the crowd of assembled ninja. For some reason he couldn't explain just yet, there was an odd attraction to this Uzumaki Naruto. There was no fear in him, none at all. This was different from some people he met where the fear was disguised. They could never fool him, for he could see through their pathetic facades and peer into the whimpering masses of their inner selves.

No, Uzumaki Naruto knew no fear. None at all.

The Sand ninja grinned, grinned like the desert panther about to devour its prey. Uchiha was their main target, that did not change. But it would give him great pleasure to slowly disembowel the orange clad ninja from cavity to cavity. How would his blood feel against his fingers?

Gaara shuddered at the thought. It was almost orgasmic, the thrill of the challenge the blond would pose would probably be even greater than slaying the Uchiha.

_Mother_, he said inwardly, _may I keep this one when you're done with him? _The demon tanuki snarled, his amber eyes flickering in the darkness of Gaara's mental prison. **Split him open and drain his blood for me**, Mother said. **Then I will let you have his corpse. **Gaara's face broke out in a smile that would put the fear of Kami-sama in the heart of any atheist.

He was insane. That was the only way to describe it.

Kankuro looked at his brother out of the corner of his eye, waiting impatiently for his older sister to be within range. She was the only one who even had any control over the Suna super weapon, and she just expended most of her chakra defeating that Yamanaka brat. The kugutsu specialist prayed silently that nothing untoward will happen right now.

Baki placed a hand across Kankuro's shoulder. The genin looked up and saw the reassuring look in the jounin's eyes. "Gaara seems to have taken a shine towards that Uzumaki boy," the jounin stated. "This may prove useful in the long run."

Kankuro understood. Control. They had one more shred of control on Gaara. The boy tried to recall a time when his youngest sibling even resembled normal. _Damn you Yashamaru_, the kugutsu user thought. _Damn you to the deepest pits of hell_.

Uzumaki Naruto. He was a quandary in himself. What was he capable of? How dangerous would he prove to be? Temari had made it back to their side of the catwalk just as the medic ninja were carrying Ino away on a stretcher. Baki briefed her on the next steps of the plan, wisely avoiding mentioning Gaara's near-psychotic episode.

_Kami-sama. This is all spiraling out of proportion too quickly._

There had been rumors, the kugutsu user remembered, of a Konoha super weapon rivaling that of Suna. It was pretty unbelievable in the beginning, something the village elders decided was a massive disinformation campaign to further fuel the current cold war between Sand and Leaf. But now, Kankuro wasn't so sure anymore.

A technique that fires killing intent over short distances. Proficiency with at least chuunin-level ninjutsu and possibly a jounin-level proficiency in taijutsu. Kankuro shot a look at Temari. They would have to discuss this in more detail when the time came. Kankuro watched the LCD monitor, noting the next match. The next two combatants hardly mattered, not if all the plans they had been laying for the past few months ran as smoothly as they hoped.

xxxxxx

Naruto noticed them staring at him a few minutes before they had started. His training left nothing to chance, a true ninja will always be aware of observers. His dead blue eyes scanned the trio from the Sand. Sabaku no Temari, wind jutsu user. Sabaku no Kankuro, obviously a _kugutsu_ user from the wrapping in his back. But the real unknown in the equation was the one named Gaara.

Sabaku no Gaara.

His skill was obviously high-level, judging from the way his older siblings stepped cautiously around him. His own jounin sensei seemed to show signs of hesitation around the boy as well, something that deserved to be given closer attention.

Then there was the Sound trio. Oto had never before sent representatives to the chuunin exams, the fledgeling village preferring to do its own tests on its own grounds. Kinuta Dosu, weapon used being the Sound Amplifier. Defeated by Aburame Shino. Abumi Zaku, wind cannon implants. Tsuchi Kin, abilities unknown.

Unknown variables are often the most dangerous ones. Though a ninja must be used to using estimates, it was often a foolish thing to take estimates for real. If only he could get an idea what Kin was capable of, he could—

"Naruto? Are you all right?"

Sakura's voice snapped him from out of his reverie. The blond blinked and saw that the next match was between Kin and one Tsurugi Misumi. The second individual from the older genin team, possible C level jutsu proficiency and level B level taijutsu. Other capabilities unknown.

"Hai, Sakura-san. I'm well."

"Good. For a minute there I thought you'd fallen asleep on your feet or something," Sakura joked. Naruto shook his head. "No, that only happens when I get less than fifteen hours of sleep in a week. I had more than eighteen hours in the past three days, so there is no chance that this will happen."

The pink-haired kunoichi shook her head, writing this off as another case of Naruto-isms. "One day Naruto," she said. "We'll get you a sense of humor yet."

The smell of green apples distracted the blond from contemplating his team's comment. Dead blue eyes turned to see the brunette from the Sound walking past him, perhaps to the final battle of her life. Naruto's hands were shaking, and he didn't know why. Kin turned, and a skeptical look was on her face. The blond barely registered her next words.

"Yo blondie. Keep your mouth open like that a fly'll land in it."

The blond caught himself, closing his mouth quickly. Sakura was giggling to his left, watching as the Sound kunoichi worked the catwalk all the way to the stairs. "Well Naruto-kun," she said, laying a hand on the shorter boy's shoulder, "looks like you're not as hopeless as I thought you were."

"Pardon?"

"Never mind. You'll get it soon enough."

Sakura kept on giggling despite herself, and Naruto had the temerity to look even more confused. Well, confused as a dead blank stare would allow. Hayate dropped his hand and the match began with a fury.

Naruto kept his eyes on the Sound girl, silently taking note of every weakness she leaves in her style and every move she pulls. She interests him, but not the way a target does. He shook his head. Now was not the time to dwell on these things, he said to himself.

He had a lot of work to do.

xxxxx

"Mother? May I speak with you?"

Uchiha Mikoto turned and saw her son leaning against the wall next to the refrigerator. Itachi was still dressed in his ANBU garb, though his face was unmasked. Mikoto gasped when she saw the wounds on his face.

"Itachi! What happened to your face?"

Her son waved her away. "It's nothing," he said. "Just a little spat with Yuugao." Mikoto busied herself with getting the bandages she kept in one of the kitchen cabinets. "Care to tell this old woman about it?" she asked, as she began applying antiseptic to his wounds. Itachi kept his face impassive as the stinging sensation from the antiseptic began to cloud the vision in his left eye. He told her everything that happened that afternoon, save the reason why he visited the memorial statue.

Some things he would just cause more pain than they were worth. Shisui had been a close family relation and, unlike most of the people in his clan, had been one of the few that actually looked up to them like relatives, not just the leading member of the Uchiha. Her mother had loved him like a son.

Almost as much as Itachi loved him like a brother.

Mikoto nodded her head, taping the dressing in place as she gave her handiwork the once over. "You need to learn to trust people, watashi no musuko," she berated him. "You'll see that being a lone wolf isn't the best course of action to take."

"I don't need any help okaa-sama." Mikoto gave him a flat stare.

"You believe that now, but you'll soon see the truth of my words when it matters."

There was a moment of silence as Mikoto finished cleaning up. Itachi's eyes stared out into space, his mind a whirlwind of thought. "Naruto-kun understands what I'm saying," his mother said offhandedly.

"What do you mean?"

Her smile said a thousand words. "He truly looks up to you, musuko. I hope you understand just how much he cares for your approval." Itachi looked at his mother in askance, but she already turned away to see to some minor kitchen detail. "I'll try and bring some of that maki sushi he loves so much after the exams," Mikoto continued. "Give Naruto-kun my regards."

Itachi bowed formally before his mother before she rushed forward and wrapped him in her arms. "I know your father won't say anything," Mikoto whispered "but he really still does care for your welfare."

The ANBU captain would have spat if he wasn't in the presence of his mother. Uchiha Fugaku caring for his welfare was about as unlikely as Gai-sempai shaving his eyebrows and losing that crappy spandex suit. "The only thing father cares about is the clan," Itachi managed. "Always about the clan."

"There's one thing you forget Itachi," his mother responded, finally letting go. "The clan is a family first of all. It's best you don't forget that." The ANBU stood up and made for the back door, a rare smile gracing his face as he turned to leave. He paused for a moment, looking back and saying "It was nice talking to you, mother," punctuating the statement with a small bow. Mikoto smiled back at him.

"Don't be afraid to trust, Itachi. Sometimes the biggest risks are the only ones worth taking."

xxxxx

"Audio based genjutsu."

Tsuchi Kin used a relatively simple tactic. But to Naruto's trained mind he knew the applications were enormous. The Sound kunoichi was still holding the ninja wire in her finger, ringing the bell attached to the senbon needle and generally messing with one Tsurugi Misumi's senses. The older shinobi had several possibly poisoned senbon buried in his body, and none of the weapons he threw ever hit.

"What's the matter old man?" Kin jeered, as she let fly another senbon. "Too much for your rickety bones to handle?" Misumi winced, trying to discern which of the dozen Tsuchi Kins in front of him was the real one. But beside the sound of the bell, the genjutsu's effects and the poison in his veins it was getting harder and harder to form any strategies to any effect.

"I…" cough.

"I give up."

Hayate's hand fell and Tsuchi Kin was declared the winner. The kunoichi let go of the ninja wire and laughed mockingly as she walked away. Unfortunately this moment of unguardedness was the only thing Misumi needed.

"Look out!"

The kunai with the exploding tag was already hurtling towards her when the kunoichi bothered to turn. Too late to mount a defense, or dodge. Kin's eyes widened, surprised at being dispatched with such a cheap trick.

The irony being that it was something she would have done.

"**Suiton: Suigadan!**" (**Water Release! Water Fang Projectile!**)

The tendril of water coursed through the air and around the Sound kunoichi, hitting the airborne kunai dead center. The flow of water sliced through the air, slamming into the body of Kin's opponent and knocking him flat on the ground.

Uzumaki Naruto looked impassive from his position behind the kunoichi. Surprisingly, he had managed to sneak up on the combatants, his hands still held together in the final seal of the Suiton jutsu. "Careful, kunoichi-san," he deadpanned. "Keep your mouth open like that and flies are just going to land in there."

Kin's skilled impression of a fish was cut short by those words and she found her cheeks involuntarily flushing. "Shut up blondie!" she yelled, facing the blond genin with an accusatory finger. "Or I'll stick a kunai with an exploding tag where the sun don't shine! And don't think I won't do it too!"

The assembled jounin watched the exchange between the two genin. "Is it just me," Kakashi drawled, closing the orange book he was holding "or are those two fighting so much like an old married couple?"

Gai pumped his fist in the air. "Yosh! It's just as I expected! Naruto-kun cannot deny the burning flames of youth burning inside of him! This display is nothing more than his youthful passions bursting forth from his very soul! Uoooh!" Tears filmed his eyes as he said these words. "The springtime of youth is so very breathtaking!"

Kurenai pinched the bridge of her nose as Asuma took another drag at his cigarette, watching both genin make their way up the catwalk. "Asuma-sensei," Shikamaru said, breaking the short moment of silence after the taijutsu specialist's tirade. "What can you tell us about Naruto anyway? He's possibly the only genin here we know absolutely nothing about save that Gaara person from Suna." Neji glanced perceptively at the lazy genius, his mind obviously circling the same questions.

_Perceptive_, the jounin mused. "Not much I'm afraid. All of his records are classified as Eyes Only. There aren't even that many people cleared for that kind of thing." Asuma perceptively glanced at Kakashi when he said this. The Copy Ninja didn't visibly respond.

Sakura watched the exchange with renewed fascination. What was all this interest on Naruto? Her eyes gave her new teammate the once over. Nobody did know much about him, other than he was trained by Itachi-sempai, and no one ever did ask what his relation was to Sasuke-kun.

The blond was enigmatic, and for once people had more to talk about than the younger Uchiha heir's impressive performance. If her observations were any clue, Naruto probably could best them both on skill alone.

But why have an ANBU train a genin? What's with all the special attention? Why the full nine yards? Her blond teammate wasn't looking at her. The match between Lee and Chouji had just begun, and Naruto was rapt and attentive. She opened her mouth to ask a question, but closed it immediately. Now wasn't the time.

"Naruto-kun?"

"Hai, Sakura-san."

Sakura twiddled her fingers at the blond's dead blue gaze. "Would it be okay if we talk a little bit after the tournament? I mean, we're teammates and all, and I feel as if we need to get to know each other a little bit before we go on missions and stuff."

Honestly, the kunoichi was expecting flat out refusal. But Naruto surprised her once again. He looked away momentarily before he answered. "An excellent suggestion Sakura-san," he said in his usual monotone. "I am very much unfamiliar with working with teams and strategically, it would be very wise for the both of us to be more familiar with each other. We shall talk after the tournament."

The kunoichi blinked. Sakura smiled before she nodded.

"**Konoha Senpuu!**" (**Leaf Whirlwind!**)

Lee's spin kick slammed into the Akamichi's Meat Tank technique, stopping the boy cold. Hayate declared the match in the spandex-clad genin's favor and the Lee responded with much tearful speeches and a dramatic sunset with crashing waves and a sunset.

Though how he was able to do that at 2 in the afternoon was beyond everyone. Still, this was Rock Lee. Normal wasn't something he was known for. The LCD spun again as the next match was declared.

_Abumi Zaku vs. Sabaku no Kankuro_

And the chuunin preliminaries continued.


	19. Windows to the Soul

**Windows to the Soul**

Suna shinobi tend to depend on two main forms of combat, kugutsu fighting and wind fighting. The former usually depends on a skilled puppet master who has command over one, two, three or (as in the case of once Chiyo) as much as ten puppets with practice and control.

Now, the limits of kugutsu fighting entails that there is a limited reach to each and every single puppet due to the dependency of chakra strings to a person's chakra capacity. Veteran puppet specialists spend years developing this and thus enable themselves the tools to use when starting to use multiple puppets.

Kugutsu fighting also requires that the puppet master have superior control and concentration, as this enables a puppet master to manipulate and maneuver a puppet in his hands as he would an actual, living being. A true kugutsu sensei will be able to use a puppet in the same way one would use an appendage, the responses being instantaneous and fluid, almost as if the puppet itself was part of the puppet master.

Now, what Sabaku no Kankuro had a lot of was control and concentration. He had this in spades, and a lot of the time he was capable of creating such sneak attacks as to lure his opponent to close in within his puppet's reach and close in with a well placed poison-based strike. However it didn't seem like his plans were going accordingly, and he truly had no reason to be pleased about this.

First thing that went wrong with Kankuro's plan was when the Oto genin Abumi Zaku managed to disintegrate the solid-state henge on his Karasu, thus revealing the Sand ninja's hiding place in the wrapping of his "other" self. Damage to his puppet was an estimated 30, though no way impeding Karasu's movements enough that it will become a liability in combat.

Besides, Kankuro always had a backup plan for this scenario.

The second thing that went wrong was when Zaku figured out the exact reach of Kankuro's puppets _wasn't_ quite as extensive as his Air Blast techniques. Now, any Suna ninja would be able to tell you that when distance is concerned, a wind specialist usually is able to outmatch a kugutsu user, but a wind specialist usually has to compensate for the scattered, randomly aimed strikes caused by wielding a large fan.

Zaku had no such problem. His built in air channels in his forearm tenketsu allow him to concentrate the chakra-charged wind into effective attacks, eliminating the single downside of Suna wind users over puppet masters. And when the Sound ninja found out that by alternating the use of his left and right air cannon he could pretty much had himself a ball making the now very disgruntled Sand ninja evade with his puppet and evade by himself in each volley of techniques the Oto genin had thrown at him.

Suffice to say that after the first forty minutes of this, Sabaku no Kankuro finally realized just how little love he had for distance fighters.

As a matter of fact, the make-up wearing genin decided he didn't like them at all.

Not one bit.

Sabaku no Kankuro evaded yet another Zankuuha aimed at his current spot and braced himself as pieces of the floor disintegrated underneath him. The Suna ninja grimaced. His puppet was faring no better and already Kankuro had estimated nearly two thirds of his control over Karasu had been compromised on account of the consecutive hits the puppet took from the Sound ninja.

Zaku grinned like the cat that caught the canary. There was no need to rush things, he decided. The Sand ninja wasn't going anywhere.

Or at least he won't be going anywhere Zaku wouldn't be waiting for him.

"Give it up Kid Mascara," the Sound ninja taunted. "This fight will be over soon enough. I'm giving you the option to walk away with your doll in one piece. What do you say?"

"I'd say fuck off, shit stain. Wait until I get my hands on you…"

"Ooh, I'm shaking in my ninja sandals. The line would have been more intimidating if only your make-up hadn't started running." At that last comment Kankuro reflexively raised his hand as if to touch his face, pulling back the last minute when he realized just what the Sound ninja had told him.

"This isn't make-up damn it! It's war paint!"

"Sure man," Zaku said, firing off another Zankuuha that grazed his opponent in the ear. "Whatever you say."

Temari shook her head in resignation. "I always told him wearing that stuff would become a liability," she drawled. "What do you think, Gaara?"

The redhead was silent. "If he embarrasses me any more, I'll kill him myself," the cryptic shinobi finally said. Temari glanced at her littlest brother. _For some reason I find myself agreeing with you this time_, she admitted to herself.

_Which actually scares me, now that I think about it._

Naruto observed the match only out of the corner of his eye. What really interested him was how this Sabaku no Gaara seemed to act so impassively over his brother possibly getting himself killed in this little encounter. No one should have been capable of just ignoring the potential death of a loved one like that.

Blue eyes met green and the blond genin started an impromptu psychoanalysis on the Suna ninja. There was something in a person's eyes that told a careful observer a thousand different details about their owner. Itachi-sensei taught him this, and none of the ANBU's lessons had ever failed him before.

What Naruto saw in the other's eyes was a type of cold discipline he had never seen in any other person before himself and his sensei. There was something else there too, something dark…sinister. Perhaps a hint of madness here and there. For some reason the blond saw familiarity in all of this and he had no idea why.

**You see only a mirror of yourself child**, the almighty nine-tails echoed from deep within Naruto's mental prison. The blond's eyes narrowed perceptively, but other than that he gave no other outward sign of the pain the Kyuubi was causing him by just bursting through his thoughts like that. **Soon your hands too will be so drenched in blood that you will purge that pathetic little soul of whatever humanity you have remaining. **

**And then I will have won.**

The living weapon pushed the thoughts out of his conscious mind, but it was incredibly difficult to silence the buzzing that managed to snake itself out of his subconscious. He could hear the Kyuubi laughing in his cage, muttering obscenities in a language that may have been long dead. "Stop it," Naruto mouthed. "Stop it right now."

**And how will you stop me, silly mortal?** The fox taunted, his teeth bared. **What manner of control do you truly have over me anyway? This cage is nothing. Ephemeral. Irrelevant, **the fox said, swirling his tails about as he paced his cage. **With each time you draw from my chakra you damn yourself further. Soon there will come a time when you will be so addicted to my power I will be able to force myself from this wretched body and exact my revenge on the poor fools who imprisoned me! **A dark and hideous laughter erupted from the soul cage of the planet's most powerful demon lord.

"No. No you won't."

**How foolish your faith is. It will not save you, mark my words**

"Naruto-kun? Are you all right?"

The blond had collapsed on one knee, his right hand clutching the side of his head as his left maintained a very tight grip on the railings in front of him. Sakura saw him lose his balance and caught him as he fell. The boy was heavy, but he managed to recover enough that he didn't need the kunoichi's support for long.

He forced himself to face her with the emotionless mask he always wore. "I'm fine, Sakura," Naruto managed after a couple of moments. "I thank you for your concern, but I will be alright once the fatigue dies down." This wasn't truly a lie. A great deal of mental fatigue did arise from the Kyuubi's psychic attacks, and Sakura didn't need to know why the hell her teammate looked so worse for wear now.

Sakura wasn't so convinced. _Guess he's human after all,_ she mused to herself. The Haruno girl still hadn't been quite sure why she attached the "kun" to the boy's name, but she felt that somewhere along the line she did start to understand him somewhat.

"Listen," she said "I know you're into that entire macho man 'I don't feel pain' crap, but it shouldn't really embarrass you to ask for help when you need it." Naruto stared at her a moment before he nodded.

"Affirmative Sakura. Thank you for the advice."

Sakura patted him tentatively in the back. "And would you lighten up!" she said with a smile. "That military 'affirmative-negative' crap only sounds cool for the first couple of times!'"

_Cool? _"I don't think I understand. Is this something to do with the temperature?"

Inner Sakura found herself glaring at the genin. "**Shannaro! How much of an idiot does this guy have to be?**"

Kakashi smiled underneath his book and mask. _Looks like Itachi hadn't taken the kid's heart out after all_, he mused. _As to how I'm going to handle how he relates to Sasuke…well, they tell me I'm a genius. I'll think of something. _

"**Zankokyuuha!**" (**Great Air Blast!**)

Kankuro instinctively blocked the strike by maneuvering his Karasu in front of him. The puppet blocked the full force of the twin-cannon air blast, shattering on impact into a thousand shards of wood and fragmented parts. The Sand ninja raised his arms, and the Sound ninja immediately took it as a sign of surrender.

"Took you long enough, Kid Mascara," Zaku laughed, stepping forwards to get a better look at his defeated opponent's face. "I almost thought you'd do something stupid like finish the match fighting. You were never really much of a challenge, to tell you the truth--"

"Zaku you idiot!" Kin yelled. "The match isn't over yet!"

A disembodied arm flew threw the air, a sharp awl protruding from the palm of a shattered hand. Kankuro smiled as the Sound kunoichi's warning came too late, his final strike via concealed chakra string tied to the ring finger of his left hand sending the rudimentary weapon airborne.

The needle stuck into Zaku's back with a satisfying _thunk_, and immediately Kankuro's powerful poison preparations already working it's magic in Zaku's bloodstream. The Sound ninja dropped to his knees, coughing up something fierce. A solid gel-like fluid started to form in his lungs and the Sound ninja's breathing was becoming more labored by the second.

Hayate stared at the genin's prone form and declared Sabaku no Kankuro the winner. As the medics took the prone Otonin away in a stretcher, the examiner addressed the kugutsu specialist with "You'll need to turn over the antidote to the medics so we can have him treated" in between coughs.

Kankuro gave him a condescending stare. "Why should I? Can't you just let weaklings like him die and get it over with?" Suffice to say, Hayate was not amused.

"I could still fail you right here."

"Tch, fine."

Kankuro tossed him a small phial, which the chuunin caught easily. He handed it to a medic and waved off the Sand ninja. The next match declared itself as Haruno Sakura vs. Nara Shikamaru.

"That's Shikaku's son, right?" Kakashi drawled as he saw the name displayed on the monitor. "Heard he was dead last in the academy. How is he going to match up against the top kunoichi of the class?"

Sarutobi Asuma gave a hearty laugh. "There's something you need to know about Shikamaru," he said after he finished. "He's not really as he seems." Kakashi didn't even bother looking intrigued. He was halfway through his favorite scene in the novel and he didn't need to bother to reply in complicated sentences.

"How so?"

Asuma watched his ward walk down the stairs and into the main combat arena. "I took a look at his old academy records and I realized that he was always getting reprimanded for being lazy," the chain-smoking jounin said. "Well, I decided to find out why."

"I designed myself a special test to gauge his IQ and I found out that Shikamaru's was at least in the mid 200s. He's incredibly smart, only he's too lazy to utilize his surprising intellect."

"Ah," Kakashi said, feigning indifference. "I hope he doesn't grow up whipped like his father." Asuma nodded sagely.

"You and me both Kakashi. You and me both."

Sakura hadn't heard the conversation, and the kunoichi had already made it to the center of the combat area just as Shikamaru was arriving. "Shikamaru-kun," the cotton-candy haired kunoichi said sweetly, pausing even to wink at the genin. A mumbled reply of "troublesome women" was heard as the other took up an attack position.

Then Hayate's hand dropped.

The pair immediately turned sober, their attack stances and levels of concentration so intense it nearly became palpable. The entire crowd was so startled they didn't even realize the battle had begun until Sakura threw the first kunai. Shikamaru dodged, lazily evading and launching a kunai of his own. The pair ran across the arena, pausing once or twice to launch a projectile weapon at the other.

Asuma nearly dropped his cigarette. "I…" he stammered "I've never seen Shikamaru so pumped before. Why?"

Kakashi closed his book, devoting his full attention at the match. "Of all the people who graduated at the academy, Sakura is probably the only one Shikamaru can't ever hope to underestimate. She's the smartest kunoichi in her class, and possibly the only one who could ever hope to match your student on sheer intellect alone."

_An excellent strategist as I recall_, the masked jounin said to himself. _Now if she can only get over blaming herself over the incident at Wave…_

Even Naruto found himself riveted. It was a battle unlike anything he had seen before. So much thought was put in each action that no movement was wasted, nor was any move unanticipated and uncountered. It was…beautiful.

For once the blond understood just why Itachi had attempted to train him in the arts of shougi and go. Strategy in a battle was highly important, and if anything quick thinking and having at least ten backup plans for every scenario was highly necessary for any shinobi to adapt to any situation arising.

"Shinobi are not just tools for killing," the disinherited Uchiha used to tell him. "You need to think things through if you want to survive in a battlefield by yourself."

And these two thought things out. The blond was a combat specialist, not a strategist. If either of the two were given enough time to think things through, perhaps even they would find ways to defeat him.

If Naruto managed to suffer a severe head injury, massive chakra loss and a missing limb within the same five minutes.

Now Chouji managed to pipe up. "I don't care what both of you say," the Akamichi said over a mouthful of chips. "Shikamaru will win because he will."

Kakashi raised his single visible eyebrow. "Okay…"

"What can you tell me about your teammate?" Shikamaru asked as he dodged yet another volley of projectile weapons. Sakura smirked as she cast a basic Bunshin jutsu to launch herself at her opponent. As she grappled with the boy, she whispered "what's the matter, Shika-Shika-kun? Fishing for information?"

The Nara threw Sakura over his shoulder, driving a kunai into the ground where her head was before the girl pulled a quick kawarimi to evade. Shikamaru pulled his kunai out of the log and threw it absently at his left, where Sakura had been waiting. The kunoichi jumped back and snarled, upset at her offensive strike being read so easily.

"Don't play coy, Haruno. I'm sure you want to know about him too."

"He suddenly appears from out of nowhere," Shikamaru paused to catch a kunai midair, twirl it in his finger and halfheartedly strike the bunshin that Sakura launched at him. The kunoichi's distraction allowed her to plant a swift side kick at the boy's gut. The Nara grunted and launched the kunai again to where the real Sakura had been. _Twice he's anticipated where I was!_, she said to herself. _How?_

"Then shows up just in time to take the chuunin and genin exams simultaneously. Plus he shows himself proficient in at least class B suiton and doton jutsus. Do you even know how few people in this village are even cleared for those foreign jutsu?"

Sakura grimaced, almost losing her concentration. "But he has Itachi-sempai for a mentor," she pointed out. "He could teach him a lot of things that we won't get to learn from the academy. Plus the Uchiha have a jutsu library in their main compound. Sasuke-kun showed me once."

"That's just it," the Nara said. "Why all the personal attention? Why give him training from ANBU? And Uchiha Itachi at that? Why all the secrecy as to why he needed all this special treatment? Admit it Haruno. You must be curious about all this."

The silence of Sakura's lack of a response was filled by the clanging of kunai. It was a valid train of thought, she admitted to herself. Why give Naruto all that special treatment? Was there any reason why his training up to this point was so customized? Why indeed?

"I see you're giving my words some thought. And one more thing, how can you sure you can even trust him? You barely know the guy. You can't possibly think he'll be thinking of your welfare as well." Sakura responded before she could catch herself.

"That's not true! Naruto isn't like that!"

"Oh really? Why is that pray tell? How can you be so sure?"

"It's because," Sakura paused, launching herself at Shikamaru with three bunshin in tow. "It's because I can see it in his eyes. He's still human, still capable of feeling. He just doesn't realize it yet."

"Troublesome woman…."

It was the moment Shikamaru was waiting for. Pulling a kawarimi just in time, he finished the seals for his family jutsu. "**Kagemane no jutsu**" (**Shadow Imitation Technique**) the genin drawled lazily as his shadow extended and latched itself at Sakura's. "Now you have to do everything I do."

The kunoichi found herself unable to move. "**Shannaro! Such a cheap trick!**" Inner Sakura screamed in her head, which Sakura duplicated simultaneously in the real world.

Shikamaru looked bored. "All things are fair in love and war, or some such crap like that," he said, waving his hand dismissively. Sakura copied the entire move, to the tiniest detail. "Now to finish this."

Shikamaru took a kunai out of his utility pouch and aimed it at his heart. Sakura looked horrified. "You aren't intending for us both to commit seppuku right here are you!" she asked anxiously.

The boy shook his head. "Troublesome woman," he mouthed, before he continued. "I'll slice off my shirt with this kunai unless you surrender," Shikamaru explained. "So, do you?"

Sakura glared. Shikamaru wouldn't. He just wouldn't. Would he? As if to read her thoughts, the boy started to make a small incision in the front of his mesh shirt, which Sakura duplicated on her dress. Oh he would. He would indeed.

"Shannaro…."

"Do you give?"

"Fine! I give…."

Hayate coughed. "Winner, Nara Shikamaru."

Shikamaru released the shadow jutsu, and Sakura plopped herself on the ground, checking that people won't see anything through the tear in her shirt. The boy walked up to her and offered a helping hand. The kunoichi glared at him and kicked him straight in the...sensitive area.

Ms. Sandal, meet Shikamaru Jr. Shikamaru Jr., meet Ms. Sandal.

The shadow user crumpled to the ground, an expression of pain on his face as Sakura lifted herself up. "That," she said pointedly "is for threatening to use a young, impressionable female's body as the object to a threat. I hope you have trouble with women your whole life!" With that, Sakura stomped off in a huff.

"Well," Kakashi said after forcing the mental image of how much the kick must have hurt from his head "looks like he'll take after his father after all." Asuma shook his head. "Whipped at the age of twelve," he said, taking a drag on a new cigarette. "The poor bastard."

Sakura rushed over to where Naruto was standing and apologized for her performance. "Sorry about that," she said, looking sheepish. "Looks like you and Sasuke are the only ones to make it to the finals."

The blond looked at her. _What was the purpose of telling me this?_ "Negative Sakura. You do not need to apologize. Nara-san took a gamble and it paid off. It was all luck that gave him the victory."

Sakura reached over and gave him a hug. "Just when I think you're hopeless, you surprise me Uzumaki Naruto," she said. The blond just furrowed his brow, unsure of what this sudden display of emotion was for.

Kin snorted. "Just like a Leaf to get sentimental. Pathetic."

The other kunoichi grinned. "You're just jealous 'cause I got to hug him and you didn't, cheese-head!" Sakura exclaimed, pulling down the skin below her left eye and sticking her tongue out at the Sound ninja, who was positively pinker than before.

Naruto looked from one girl to another. Somehow, he understood now some of Itachi's words back in the day. _"No matter how smart, skilled or powerful you become," his sensei told him "one thing can never change about a shinobi."_

"_What's that sensei?"_

"_Shinobi in their entire lives will never be able to understand how kunoichi think. Or all women for that matter."_

One match remained in the roster and Naruto looked at the LCD all the same. The names were no surprise to him, but apparently some of the others just realized this inevitable final match in the chuunin preliminaries.

_Hyuuga Hinata vs. Sabaku no Gaara._

xxxxx

A/N: Bet you didn't see that coming did you?


	20. Issues II

**Issues II**

_Five months ago, the Hyuuga Compound…_

"I don't care what happens to her anymore," Hiashi spat, grimacing in distaste. "A Hyuuga too weak to defeat a sister five years her junior does not deserve the full attention of a Hyuuga upbringing."

Kurenai blinked. Is this guy serious? "I am sure things are not as bad as you say," she said carefully. "Perhaps Hinata-san only needs to grow into her own--"

"Then she is your problem. I am leaving all aspects of her training to you Kurenai-san. Good day." With that, the clan head turned and strode away. Yuuhi Kurenai, rookie jounin and recently assigned captain of genin team number eight looked at his retreating form in disbelief.

Hyuuga Hiashi, she had been warned by her superiors, was somewhat a difficult man to deal with. He was cold and arrogant, perhaps a trait shared by the heads of most bloodline clans. But to verbally disparage his own daughter in the manner he did?

The kunoichi shook her head. Perhaps some things she will never understand.

"H-h-he's r-right, y-you know."

Kurenai's worst fears just proved themselves true. "How long have you been there Hinata-chan?" the kunoichi asked. She chose to use the suffix in this situation, hoping that somehow her words sounded reassuring enough to the girl. Hinata poked her fingers together as she continued to hide behind the shogi doors, outside the main mansion's sheltered engawa.

"S-since otou-sama started talking…"

Kami-sama. She's heard the entire conversation, Kurenai realized. With all the negative criticisms she heard from the girl's father, the jounin was surprised Hinata didn't reveal herself to defend her side of the matter. As the scarlet-eyed ninja neared her new student, she realized why.

Hyuuga Hinata thought herself to be as worthless as her father believed her to be.

A cousin who is now known as a prodigy. A younger sister who can match and exceed her skills in close combat. A father who is known as one of the most powerful and skilled shinobi in the village. If this wasn't a recipe for extreme psychological pressure, the genjutsu specialist didn't know what it was.

"You shouldn't listen to everything he tells you," Kurenai said. "You're special, and you only need to know what talents you have and capitalize on them. Strength isn't everything for a shinobi."

"But for a Hyuuga it is."

_Present day…_

This was the mantra that kept Hinata training ever harder every time. No matter how Kurenai or Hinata's teammates complemented her on her progress, she only punished herself more, saying that she'll never be good enough to pass her father's standards. This was the situation for a good few months, even up to the advent of the chuunin preliminaries.

"I'm not so sure Hinata should go through with this."

Shino was never one for a lot of words, but when he did speak he usually knew what he was saying. The probability of Hinata winning a straight out fight versus Sabaku no Gaara was about the same as a bowl of ramen had in staying uneaten while placed within six feet of a horde of Akamichi. Mathematically, there was no way she'd win. Kurenai almost tried to tell her student that she needn't go through with this when a swirl of sand interrupted her words.

The indoor sandstorm gave the entire crowd a surprise, not counting the delegates from Suna and the weird blond kid from Kakashi's team. Kurenai watched the swirling grains coalesce into a mass in the middle of the ring and form the stoic and probably insane visage of Sabaku no Gaara.

His eyes were riddled with contempt at the opponent he had to fight. Would the Leaves be stupid enough to send him a sacrificial lamb such as this? An outrage! Blasphemy! Even the tanuki demon sealed into him was growling its agreement. **Rend her flesh from her bones quickly**, Shukaku seethed. **This one will not be worth even toying with.**

"Well?" Gaara spat, his voice laden with disgust. "What are you waiting for?"

Hinata looked determined, something that for once surprised the female jounin. "Are you sure about this Hinata?" Kurenai asked. "We will not be requiring you to fight against your opponent unless you feel that you're absolutely sure--"

"There's no way to be totally sure in a match, Kurenai-sensei," came the reply. Hinata walked down the stairs in a manner so eerily calm it even made Shino hesitate. His voice did reach his teammate, however.

"Hinata-chan." She turned, her pearly white eyes facing the cryptic bug user.

"Ganbare."

Hinata's smile lit up her face and even the usually stoic Shino had a slight pinkish tinge on his forehead. Kurenai watched her ward drop into a Jyuuken stance as Hayate coughed through some words. "Let me remind the combatants that it is not necessary to score a kill," the sickly jounin said. "It is only necessary that one of the fighters be in no condition to fight any longer, or if one were to give up. Are you both clear on this?"

There was no response.

Muttering incoherently to himself, Hayate raised his hand and dropped it again.

"Hyuuga Hinata versus Sabaku no Gaara, Hajime!" he cried.

xxxxx

The Hyuuga flickered from view to reappear in front of the Sand genin, only to be knocked backwards by a tendril of sand. Undeterred, Hinata evaded the succeeding blast of sand and fired off a combination of six Jyuuken strikes that planted themselves with explosive impact against Gaara's oddly responsive barrier of sand. This went on for almost thirty seconds before the crowd even came to their senses.

"Wow," Sakura gaped. "Hinata sure is energetic today." Naruto's gaze never wavered as the kunoichi in question hammered through Gaara's seemingly impenetrable defense, Jyuuken strike after strike being blocked by the whirling sands of the Sand genin. There was something awfully off about the match, the blond decided, and until he finished his observations perhaps he might never understand just what it is…

"She's using up too much chakra," Neji piped up, his own milky-white eyes narrowing. "Such a reckless barrage will surely burn out her inner coils all that much faster. I knew she had no discipline with her technique but this…this is too much."

Hinata seemed to reflect the truth of the other Hyuuga's observations. Whereas Gaara wasn't even moving, the heir to the Main House was a wreck, her massive attacks literally of no use against the sheer defensive potential of the Sand ninja's strange ninjutsu. _Was it a bloodline trait?_ Hinata asked herself, as her stance grew harder to hold.

"Uooh!" Lee screamed, pumping his fist in the air as tears streamed down his face. "Hinata-chan is filled to the brim with the explosive power of youth! Such an admirable effort from the cousin of my eternal rival! Sabaku no Gaara will not be able to stand for very long against such a display of burning vigor!"

Kurenai bit her lip. This was too much too soon, she realized. If Hinata keeps this up her chakra would long be gone, opening herself to a huge gap in her defense that Gaara would no doubt use to his advantage. "Hinata!" the jounin called from the stands. "Pace yourself! You won't have the stamina to go on for much longer if you keep this senseless assault up!"

Hinata refused to listen, her assaults growing in intensity with each combination she let loose. "Taijutsu will not be much use against Gaara-san's defense," Naruto said. "The Hyuuga have never put any importance in learning anything outside of what they teach in their clan traditions. Hinata-san is very much disadvantaged in this match."

"What I'd like to know is if Hinata knew this," Sakura said, putting a finger to her lip "Why else would she continue this match? Hyuuga taijutsu may be powerful in itself, but nothing their clan can throw will matter if they can't touch their opponent."

Hinata had broken off her assault and had been reduced to evading the tendrils of sand that were sent in her direction. The kunoichi ran backwards, using a kunai fluidly drawn from her pouch to cut herself a path across the tendrils up to a point where the sand could not reach her anymore. By then Hyuuga Hinata had made it to the end of the combat hall, her back pressed against the wall.

"Cease this senseless display and come at me," Gaara seethed, contempt very visible in the Sand ninja's eyes. "I will have this victory and you will not waste my time with your delaying tactics, woman." Temari smirked. "It's not very smart to piss off my brother," she said. "And I almost thought you Hyuuga'd be smarter than that."

Hinata panted as the Sand ninja approached her, closing the gap enough that the Sand will be able to do its work. _Come on, just a little bit closer_, the heiress thought to herself. _It'll all be over soon…_

When Gaara was fifteen yards away, Hinata came at him with a loud battle cry, kunai in hand. The Hyuuga charged her legs with chakra, saturating the last her inner coils could produce for the final burst of speed she would need to accomplish her ends. It was a split second before Aburame Shino, despite his awesome powers of observation finally realized the truth.

"She's going to kill herself…"

xxxxx

"I don't believe you!"

Hanabi was stomping her feet and glaring, all her fury directed at her older sister sitting not five feet from her. "Why in the hell do you take that crap from him anyway?" she raged. "Father doesn't have any right to treat you this way!"

Hinata was silent, her nimble fingers applying the herbal balm she made just the other day. It was something she concocted to relieve the pain of tenketsu blockage, an injury very common when it came to her training with her father. Hyuuga Hiashi was a strict taskmaster, and he rarely ever pulled back when it came to training.

It made for stronger warriors, he used to say.

"Why can't you just stand up to him onee-sama!" Hanabi cried. "None of the things he even says are remotely true!" The elder Hyuuga looked down at the floor, unsure of what to say. Frustrated, her little sister kicked away the little container of herbal medicine, spilling the sticky green gel on the woven tatami, filling the air with an aroma of mint and other subtle compounds yet to be identified.

"Maybe he was right about you," Hanabi spat. "You're weak, can't even stand up for yourself. Father was right. You're not worthy to be the heir!"

The younger girl stomped off the room, sliding the shougi doors angrily and almost breaking them off their place. Hinata opened her mouth to say something, but the words never came…

She bit her lip. Hinata busied herself cleaning up the spilled herbal medicine, wiping away at the stains with her bare hands. The heiress choked on the unshed tears, finally abandoning the effort after a few failed attempts to get the stains out of the tatami.

_I feel so useless…_

The Hyuuga looked into the ceiling, wishing that there was something she could do. No, thinking about it was pointless. She was too weak to change anything now. Why would it change?

Why would it ever change?

_Why would it ever change…_

_Sometimes I wish it would all just end…._

xxxxx

Hinata activated her Byakugan, scanning the immediate environs for any danger. Her bloodline enabled her to see around her for kilometers at a time, though at times her father still said it wasn't manifesting in her strongly enough. Neji's bloodline was pretty advanced for a Hyuuga, and Hiashi still could not get over the fact that the prodigy could defeat one of his own blood.

And so did Hinata fail her father's expectations once more.

"What do you see, Hinata?" Shino asked, breaking the silence. Kiba was at their six o' clock, watching and listening for any other squads who might have thought to approach them from behind. Team Eight was a squad specializing in tracking and scouting, and none of their specific bloodlines would have allowed them to be snuck up on.

"I see the delegates from Suna, two kilometers away," Hinata whispered. Whispering was the only way she got the stutter out of her voice, and with her teammates' advanced senses there really was no reason to speak any louder.

"They're fighting a group of Rain ninja," the Hyuuga continued. "They have them surrounded…" Hinata gasped. A jutsu using a thousand needles was just released. But wait...something blocked it? "They've used some sort of shield, I think it's made of sand or something…"

"A defense specialist," Kiba snorted. "This makes things a lot more complicated. What else do you see?"

Hinata read the redhead's lips enough to decipher the name of a jutus. _Sabaku kyuu_. Desert Coffin. A covering of sand surrounded the Rain ninja, restricting their movements. Only their faces showed. _Sabaku Sousou_. Desert Graveyard. A muted scream, unheard from two kilometers away but still very obvious in its violence.

"H-h-he…he c-c-c-c-crushed the Rain ninja with a sand jutsu…" Hinata deactivated her bloodline, throwing up from disgust at what she just saw. Shino rubbed her back, helping her expel the food matter from her stomach. Kiba snorted.

"I think it's safe to say we need to avoid these guys, hm?" the dog ninja suggested. Shino was quick to agree, and pointed out a couple of other squads his Kikai bugs found for him. Hinata wiped her mouth with her sleeve, the fearful memory of the redhead's abilities searing itself into her brain forever.

xxxxxx

Stronger.

Hinata danced through the forms of the Jyuuken, slamming her palms into a wooden training dummy in the expansive training grounds of the Hyuuga compound. Usually the Jyuuken was used to inflict damage on an opponent's tenketsu, blocking chakra and disabling any jutsu that the enemy may be capable of performing. But that was only a part of its capabilities. A sensei of the Jyuuken style was capable of using the raw force behind the techniques to crush an enemy's vital organs, pounding them into jelly with the sheer intensity of each strike all the while leaving the outer skin undamaged.

And so Hinata continued to train.

_Stronger._

It took another few minutes before even her intense will to fight faded away, leaving her drained and chakra-depleted. The heiress dropped to the grass, breathing hard and sweat pouring down her brows. Taking a minute to catch her breath, Hinata got up and limped her way to the training dummy, scratching the surface. The cloth covering fell away and revealed a mass of sawdust accumulating under the dried exterior of the wooden structure.

_It's not enough._

_It's never going to be enough._

xxxxx

Hinata blinked and found her jounin sensei standing in between her and her opponent, Sarutobi Asuma at her side. The chain-smoking jounin was staring intently at the sand-user, who for once in the entire series of the fight was attacking relentlessly. Kurenai was glaring at her student.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

Hinata remained silent. She poked her fingers together, her eyes dropping to the floor.

Kurenai's full arm slap sent her to the ground. "Listen here you little brat!" she seethed. "I don't care what manner of insane rationalizations pushed you into thinking you needed to die for people to care about what's happening to you! I will not let you take this path of the coward!"

"But you don't understand!" Hinata yelled, rubbing the sore spot on her cheek. "There's nothing left for me to prove! I'll not stand here and remain a burden to all of you! I-I-I…" the Hyuuga whimpered.

"I don't want to stay dead weight…"

Kurenai scooped her student in her arms, allowing the girl to cry into her shoulder. Asuma never took his eyes off the Sand ninja. "Hayate," he said "give the victory to Gaara-san. Hinata is in no condition to fight."

Hayate coughed, unsure of the new development. Still, he conceded. "The winner of this match," he coughed some more "is Sabaku no Gaara."

"Lucky break for the Hyuuga," Temari snorted. "Oi, Gaara. The match is over. Get over here so we can discuss some strategy."

The green-eyed Sand ninja didn't move. "No," he said finally. The others turned to him in surprise, flinching slightly as his sand started to move. "I will not be denied this moment by weak Leaf ninja. I will claim my mother's sacrifice and I will claim it now."

Asuma drew his chakra knives, gritting his teeth around his cigarette. "Are you sure you want to do that kid?" he asked, dropping into a stance and standing protectively in front of Kurenai and Hinata. "You'll be throwing your life away."

"Gaara no!" Baki yelled, leaping from the stands as Temari rushed to follow. "There's no reason to continue this battle! You'll bring disaster to us all!"

Gaara still refused to cooperate, his sand whirling around him like a contained desert storm. **Suffer, writhe in pain. Bleed!** Shukaku seethed, it's bloodthirsty nature bubbling out from within the ninja's body. **I will snap you like a twig, little Hyuuga!**

The chain-smoking jounin stepped back, unsure of how to continue. "This chakra…" Asuma began. "It's almost the same as…"

An explosion of sand was the only clue he had to what happened. Gaara was dragged across the arena and into a wall by a swirling sphere of wind the size of a baseball. A crack in the wall marked the place the Sand ninja impacted. Baki followed the strike, surprised that someone had the skill, let alone the power, to knock Gaara off his feet. The sand on his back alone must have weighed at least two hundred fifty pounds, he reasoned.

Gaara got up from the rubble, his eyes blazing with hate as the hairline cracks on his face poured out with, of all things…sand. "Who…" he began, before his green killer's eyes settled on a pair of dead blue eyes standing on the side of a wall. Hairline cracks surrounded the blond's feet, radiating outwards from where he stood horizontal against the wall as he held his left arm outward, presumably the one that released the jutsu. "Uzumaki Naruto…" the Sand ninja said the name as if it were a curse, his killing intent pouring off him in waves.

"Sabaku no Gaara," the blond began, gathering another mass of chakra in his hands. "Stand down or prepare to be annihilated."

xxxxxx

Next chapter: Chuunin exam's main matches! More Uchiha-based conspiracies and Konoha politics! Gaara gets pissed off! Training in between the matches!

A/N: Finally the damn matches are over! Coming up next is…more of the chuunin exams. whimpers I'll be trying to expand more on the backgrounds surrounding the rest of the village and maybe post some NaruKin fluff if I can. Watch out for more of Jiraiya and Itachi, possibly some more revelations on the side of Kabuto.

Sorry the update took so long! It's just that there was this HUGE gestures with arms typhoon that hit and a lot of trees fell, and the power was out and we didn't even have phone lines until two days after the storm! And billboards were flying all over the place! Yeah! And I had to leave for my grandmother's house only it turns out the computer over there got its memory fried for some reason. Anyway, the update's here, isn't it?


	21. Doubts

**Doubts**

_A battle of wills is often the hardest battle fought. Here mere skill and strength are not the deciding factors, but mental toughness. In ancient warfare, before modern strategy was invented, it was said that the army who hung on the longest was the one who won. There were losses on both sides, sometimes incalculable disparity springing from the chaos and destruction. Still the victor is left standing. _

_And the loser left for dead._

_It is a battle of the mind for the most part, the deciding factor the warrior's resolve. The weak minded fall away like chaff in the wind, while the strong in mind and spirit claim the spoils of the skirmish. This was a lesson hard taught to the greatest shinobi in history. And Uchiha Itachi was no exception. _

_When he offered to teach Naruto to play cards, the boy had accused him of trying to corrupt his innocent mind. This was true, in a way. Just not the way the blond. In truth Itachi found that he was at his best at reading people when he played cards with them. Shougi and Go was well and good, to get to know a person's philosophy and his outlook on the field of battle. But to get to know a person's heart, nothing beats a good game of poker._

_There was an element of calculated risk in cards, the object of the game to anticipate just what the opponent has in his hand in relation to the cards in yours. Subtle mannerisms, little gestures and idiosyncrasies of each player offer little clues as to how they think, they act and make decisions. A cautious (and in Itachi's book, cowardly) would risk little, betting in small amounts and thereby winning in small amounts. However, what interested him was what he saw in Naruto's game._

_His six year old student sat across him, concentration frozen into that childlike face and a small furrow on his brow. Itachi remained impassive, though he can't help but be disappointed in how easy his protégé was to read. He was like an open book, Naruto's emotions oftentimes showing up in the most inopportune moments. It was soothing to think that such a guileless heart exists in such a tiny little package. _

_In the coming years he would need to change that, the ANBU told himself. He would need to break the boy's spirit enough times that he'd be moldable into something that would be more combat effective than he'd be had he been trained in the academy. The potential strength of the boy was such that Itachi had no doubt that in a decade he would meet his match in the blond. So much power in such a tiny little package._

_For a person like Uchiha Itachi, it was breathtaking to behold. _

"_Full house!"_

_The ANBU winced inwardly at the volume of the blond's yell. He was loud and obnoxious too, he mused. Itachi slowly laid his cards on the table, his face as impassive as ever as he said the magic words. _

"_Royal flush."_

_The boy cursed, a flurry of colorful words erupting out of his mouth, surprising the ANBU with the variety of words the blond had in his vocabulary. Those words were used on him once, Itachi surmised. Such a young boy to have his spirit broken, but he had no choice in the matter, very much like he had no choice when he was chosen to carry the burden known as the Kyuubi no Kitsune. _

"_You make this too easy," Itachi drawled. "You have no skill in masking your intentions, nor do you make any secret of your strengths and weaknesses. In battle, this trait of yours will inevitably be a liability to you one day."_

"_Listen to me, Uzumaki Naruto. The game of life is very much like the game we just played. We are each dealt a hand and a small wager is bet. We don't know precisely what cards our opponents hold nor do we know precisely what kind of hand we are going to get dealt next." Itachi stood, poking Naruto on the forehead with an index finger and middle finger together as he continued lecturing. "The stakes become higher as the game progresses, throwing the equations and precision of normalcy in times of crisis. This concept you need to keep in mind at all times."_

"_Your first lesson will be training your mind to think in these terms, to decipher what an opponent will be planning based on the cards he's placed on the table and to counter those plans with minimal loss on your part."_

_Naruto scrunched up his face, struggling to understand the foreign concepts he's been dealt with. He smiled, his almost cherubic face lighting up as he faced his new sensei. "I don't quite understand all of that," he admitted "but I'll tell you this! After we're done, I'll show you how powerful I could be someday! I'll become powerful and train hard so I can be the Hokage!"_

_Itachi stared him down and the blond's mirth was extinguished. "A petty dream," the ANBU said. "A petty dream for someone who does not know what the value of true power is. Do you not understand?" The ANBU gestured out the window of the barracks, pointing to the outside. "Out there is a world that will crush all of your dreams, stomp them to the ground like so much waste garbage. Out there live the people who will break your faith and destroy your hopes and aspirations. I'm offering you the chance to take the path of power, to rise above the asinine perceptions of the world around you and see from the perspective of the gods."_

_The blond bit his lip, his face slipping into a mask of anxiety. "G-g-gomen, Itachi-sensei," Naruto whispered. "I-i-i-it's just that I wanted the village to acknowledge me someday, so they'll stop hating me…"_

_Itachi waved his hand dismissively. "The opinions of ants are of no use to the gods," he spat. "I will show you the path to true power. And damnation on all those who will stop me from doing so." In a comradely gesture, the ANBU extended his hand, helping the blond off his chair. _

"_Come Naruto. Your education begins."_

xxxxx

Two death dealers faced down from across the room. One with the face of insanity, eyes as green as the ocean deep brimming with killing intent. The other with the face of an angel, blond spikes adorning his head and expressionless blue eyes revealing nothing. The entire room shuddered to think what would happen should the two choose to fight here and now.

Uzumaki Naruto. The Sword of the Leaf.

Sabaku no Gaara. The Desert Super Weapon.

Jinchuuriki, bearers of a burden they didn't ask for, feared and awed by all around them. Given a choice people from their respective villages would have paid billions of Ryo just to have them put down, but situations will always decide otherwise. Power attracts power, and their authorities would be more than unwilling to let such weapons just get thrown away.

Naruto hadn't moved in over five minutes, his feet almost burning from the ache of holding his full weight on the side of the wall. The wind jutsu in his hands was still active, the violent gales of the Fuutama (Cyclone Bullet) still not dissipating with the ever present threat of his Sunagakure counterpart. Gaara was hesitant to move, having yet no idea of what his opponent was capable of. He revealed his cards too soon, Naruto said to himself. So far the Sand genin had used nothing but his arcane sand jutsu, defensive capabilities of which like nothing the blond had ever seen before. His first shot should have killed the crazed shinobi, ripping his head from his very neck. Yet it did not.

A quandary, to be sure.

A quandary indeed.

"Naruto-san." It was Kakashi. What did he want now? The blond turned his eyes on his now jounin-sensei. "What is it, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Would you mind dissolving your wind jutsu for a while?"

"Negative. The threat has not yet been neutralized."

"I see," Kakashi said, placing his book inside his pocket. "Why don't we make a compromise? Will you deactivate the wind jutsu should I be capable of convincing Gaara-san to stand down?" Naruto gave this some thought. He nodded, saying a quick "Affirmative."

"Good." The Copy Ninja turned his attention on the Suna team and bellowed at the top of his voice. "Oi, Suna-tachi. My student says he's willing to let this all slide if you stop making threatening actions towards a Konoha kunoichi. Will you ask Gaara-san to stand down?"

Baki nodded at the logic of this and turned to Temari, who whispered something in Gaara's ear, struggling slightly against the indoor cyclone. The Sand ninja's eye ticked, but the sandstorm blew over, the stray grains falling from the air and onto the marble floors. Asuma relaxed his stance and waited for Kurenai to help Hinata limp to the stands before he started back.

Naruto saw all of this and reluctantly deactivated his whirling pocket cyclone. "Domo Arigato, Gaara-san," he said plainly, after jumping from his vantage point and making a quick bow. Sakura checked him over, and the blond reassured his teammate that he was all right.

Kin couldn't believe her eyes. She heard that the blond was powerful, hell she even saw some of that power in action. But to be able to create a stalemate between himself and the crazy Sand ninja? This was unreal. She turned around to find herself face to face with a jounin wearing an Oto forehead protector. Kin recognized him immediately when he took off the henge disguising his eyes for a split second.

"Orochimaru-sama…" she breathed, almost dropping to one knee before she caught herself. If her master came here in disguise, she would surely be punished severely for revealing his presence prematurely. The snake Sannin smirked, his pale features making the expression seem like slow torture was to follow. Kin never liked the man, but the ways of Rice Field Country was the slow and painful struggle to power. She still did not know what she did to earn the right to join the Konoha entourage, but whatever it was put her in a position to place herself in a position of favor in Orochimaru's court.

"I find it amazing that the Tsurugi continues to find ways to surprise me," the jounin who was Orochimaru said. "Amazing capabilities. No doubt the Copy Ninja himself or any Sharingan user for that matter would be hard pressed to copy that jutsu." Kin asked why and the snake laughed mockingly at her question. "Wind nature chakra is one of the rarest skills to develop," he said. "So few ninja posses this nature of chakra that in some circles it's considered a bloodline trait. I'm surprised that clan traitor's protégé had it developed to such a fine degree. But I can't help but feel that he will still grow stronger before the day is through."

"Is there anything you require of me…sensei?"

"Actually there is," the disguised Sannin said, producing a small scroll from the pockets of his jounin vest. Kin took it reluctantly. Mission orders no doubt. "There will be other parties privy to this little operation," Orochimaru warned. "Open this scroll in exactly fifteen hours. Congratulations on passing the preliminaries. You did well to avoid the fate that awaited your little teammates."

The Oto kunoichi bowed formally. "As you command, sensei," she said simply, struggling to hide the disgust and the fear forming in her stomach. Orochimaru turned to leave, blurring as he left. Once she thought he was clear, Kin slumped to the ground and started shaking uncontrollably. This may well be her only path to power, she told herself. But damn if I'm going to let myself become that man's puppet for long. She looked longingly at Naruto being congratulated by his teammates and shook her head. Now was not the time for such thoughts.

She had orders to fulfill.

xxxxx

"Congratulations to all of you, genin of the Leaf and delegates of Sand and Sound," the Hokage's gravely voice announced over the din. "As you know, there will be another set of matches in a month's time, during which the presence of the feudal lords will make the main matches a thing to behold."

"The main matches will be used mainly as an advertising ploy on the part of all the villages participating. A village has the chance to show off its strength in these occasions and thereby invite more clientele to support its economy. But before all of this all of you will be drawing numbers to determine the match ups in the main tournament."

The numbers were drawn and the matches declared. These were:

Match 1: Rock Lee vs. Uzumaki Naruto

Match 2: Nara Shikamaru vs. Sabaku no Temari

Match 3: Sabaku no Gaara vs. Aburame Shino

Match 4: Hyuuga Neji vs. Tsuchi Kin

Match 5: Uchiha Sasuke vs. Sabaku no Kankuro

Five matches with the winner to a randomly selected match moving onwards directly to the semi-final bout. But when out of the blue Kankuro decided to drop out (his puppet having already been rendered useless), Sasuke found himself on the receiving end of that honor, seeding his place in the semis to fight the victor of Match 2. The crowd at the arena broke up quickly, most of the genin moving on to their respective sensei to discuss training strategy with regards to the main matches. Naruto was about to head for his private training spot when Sakura laid a hand on his shoulder.

"That was a great thing you did back there," the kunoichi said "saving Hinata. Not that many people would willingly go up against someone that strong just to get people out of danger." The blond shook his head.

"Negative Sakura-san. Sabaku no Gaara was abusing the rules by attacking a defeated opponent without just cause. I merely assisted Hayate-san in enforcing the rules."

Oh. Sakura clenched her fist, resisting the urge to hit the idiotic blond. "Is that all you really think is important? Rules and orders?"

"Affirmative."

"Well you're wrong," Sakura spat. "A person can't have other people telling him everything he has to do at the times he needs to say it. I was impressed by the kind of strength you had Naruto. Now I realize you're just a puppet. A lifeless doll at the end of a string, no better than the kugutsu that puppet-boy carries."

The kunoichi pivoted on one heel and stormed off. She hadn't made it fifteen feet when she turned, addressing the blond. "I feel so sorry for you, Naruto-_kun_," she said, the disdain so very clear in her tone. Uzumaki Naruto stared at her retreating form, blinking twice in confusion. Kunoichi were so hard to understand.

"Not too long ago I thought the same way you know."

The blond didn't need to turn to realize that this was Kakashi's voice. What surprised him however was the fact that the jounin managed to sneak up on him without any of his senses detecting him until he spoke. Was this the skills of Itachi's mentor? The older man put away his book, sighing slightly as if he read what was in Naruto's mind and was dismayed at what he saw.

"I see now that there are too many differences with my style and yours for me to teach you anything further. So, I'll be arranging for you to receive your training from another sensei," Kakashi said. "Wait for him at your joint training field you share with Itachi and he'll be right with you around later in the afternoon tomorrow. Meanwhile I'll be trying to see how long before Sasuke recovers and he can begin his training."

"Permission to speak, sensei." Kakashi rolled his eye at this. The blond was as annoying as an ANBU grunt!

"Permission granted, genin Uzumaki."

"I have questions as to who will address Sakura-san's training since all of us seem to have our own personal trainers at this point."

"That's a very good question Naruto. However since Sakura hasn't made it to the main matches she will not be assigned a personal trainer during the month before the exams."

Naruto furrowed his brow. "Sensei," he stated "I have realized that during the course of her match that she has not been trained sufficiently in areas of close combat. Perhaps she has some potential in genjutsu, but my estimates are not accurate enough to trust. May I suggest assigning extra training to her anyway so that she will not become a liability to the team in the future?"

Kakashi seemed to think this over before he nodded immediately after Naruto's statement. "We'll see if we can find one whose willing to help her then," the jounin mumbled, taking out his book again. Naruto bowed and excused himself, blurring out of the stadium and into the rooftops, coasting through the tiled roofs and over to the small apartment he shared with his mentor. Perhaps he may need to move out now that he has received certification as a genin of Konoha. The blond believed he was more than capable of supporting himself now, but for some reason could not bear to think about leaving his former sensei's side. Naruto shook his head. Useless thoughts like this were a waste of time. He should just focus on the task at hand and make sure he acquires the chuunin rank during the exams.

Sakura's words disturbed him however. What else was there besides rules and orders? He was ninja. Ninja were supposed to live their lives alongside a finite set of rules, a code dictating every aspect of their lives and in turn making them the most fearsome weapons of battle. Foolish thoughts, he said to himself. He had no need of these things. He knew where he stood, and where his sensei told him to stand was oftentimes the best course of action. But…

…what if he _was_ wrong about the entire thing?

Naruto stopped himself mid leap and landed on the balcony of a civilian residence. What if everything he was taught to believe since he was born was wrong and Sakura was right? What were the implications for this kind of thing? What else would he live for then?

Would Itachi-sensei be able to tell him? Or would that just be proving what the kunoichi was telling him? Naruto's mind was by now a mass of confusion and seeming contradictions. A ninja was a weapon of battle, nothing more. They had no use for petty things like emotions and the privacy of their minds was something they usually had no right to keep for themselves. They existed for the village and their own lives were forfeit in favor of the village.

But why were they asked to do this? What would allow a ninja to have so much concern as to set aside their own well being to protect a settlement of people who could be wiped out as easily in a fool war conducted by idiot politicians? Involuntarily the blond laid a finger to his temple to try ad soothe the throbbing in his head. Too many variables, he said to himself. How was he to decide what was right and what was not in this situation?

This was not his concern, the blond told himself. He was just a genin for Kami-sama's sake. Why would he even bother with such philosophical musings when there was a mission for him to complete? Still, it would help to be sure. With that thought in mind the blond took off again, this time in the direction of the Uchiha manor, to the kitchen of someone very familiar and dear to him…

Uchiha Mikoto.

xxxxx

A/N: Okay so maybe that wasn't much of an update. Please review.


	22. Discourses: A Weapon’s Tears

**Discourses: A Weapon's Tears**

"Fugaku-sama, you have a visitor."

The master of the Uchiha clan turned to the servant addressing him and excused himself from the table. He made his way to the living room where he found an ANBU operative sitting down with a rather relaxed expression in his body language. A cup of tea, untouched, was laid out in front of him. Fugaku frowned.

"Has my son sent you here?"

Fugaku didn't need to see into the underside of the mask to know that the fool probably _smirked_ at him. The gall of this man. The ANBU uncrossed his legs and said "I was sent by one who controls the roots of the tree of Konoha." The Uchiha was dumbstruck. "Let us continue this conversation elsewhere," Fugaku suggested. The ANBU acquiesced, standing up and heading for the door.

"Mikoto, I'll be out on an errand. Do not bother to wait up."

The pair traversed the city streets, taking a turn at randomly chosen street corners until they finally made a rather circuitous route to the crowded village night market. The ANBU made his way to an octopus ball stand and lifted the curtain, gesturing for the Uchiha to step inside. Fugaku did, and was rewarded with the sight of Danzou, the leader of a newly formed wing of ANBU that once rivaled the rise of his own progeny in its ranks.

"Danzou-sempai," the Uchiha greeted him as he took a seat, making the suffix as insincere as circumstances would allow. The leader of ROOT was enjoying what looked like his third order of the fried seafood, and did not face the younger shinobi as he ate his meal. Taking a sip of sake, the older man washed down the remnants of the food in his mouth and smiled, an unnerving expression on a face as battle-worn as his. The man was like an aged wolf, dangerous in that no one could decipher what capabilities he still has and what he does not. Uchiha was right to be wary: this one was not to be trusted.

"Well, aren't we formal this evening," the aged warrior said. "Hello Uchiha-san. Would you like to have some fried octopus balls? I promise you that you will not be disappointed." Fugaku refused. "Ah that's too bad. You don't know what you're missing, Uchiha-san."

"What do you want from me?"

"Ah, now we're being direct." The older man took another sip of his sake. "Good. I was wondering if we could talk business. I needed to hear things from your side first before I decide to believe certain rumors circulating about activities you're reportedly involved in." Fugaku played dumb.

"What are you talking about?"

Danzou's single eye narrowed. "Don't play me for a fool, Uchiha," the leader of ROOT spat. "I have kept updated reports on all of yours and a certain other man's activities for the past…Sasaki, how long was it again?" Danzou paused, addressing the ANBU guard.

"Six months, Danzou-sama."

"Six months," the old man said gravely. "My, what a naughty boy we've been, Fugaku-kun." The Uchiha remained unfazed. _How much do you know, you asinine old goat?_ he inwardly asked. "There is no proof," Fugaku countered. "You cannot link these…accusations with me, whatever they are."

"As much as I admire your propensity to engage in verbal skirmishes, I must digress," Danzou said, taking another bite of the octopus balls. "I think you may wish to have a look at this." An unmarked folder was slid across the wooden counter, offered by the same ANBU who escorted the Uchiha clan head to this food stand. Fugaku could barely restrain a gasp at what he read. Expense reports of every single money transaction he authorized. To a trained observer this would look like the clan was, under his orders, was gathering arms and making rather numerous money transfers to certain individuals outside of the village. Certain individuals who happened to be involved with a certain snake Sannin.

"How…"

"I have my ways, Fugaku-kun," Danzou said simply. "Make no mistake, I'm making no move to stop you on your little endeavor. I only wish to give you a warning on careless actions like this being traced by the wrong individuals…and certain repercussions in relation to these actions. Perhaps it would be more prudent to move a bit slower with regards to this…endeavor of yours."

The Uchiha was not deceived. His head just found itself readied for the chopping block and there was nothing he or his allies could do about it. Fugaku cursed inwardly at the one-eyed bastard's interference. Danzou was staring at him with a satisfied expression on his face, mimicking a cat that just cornered the canary. The last time Fugaku checked, high treason was a crime still punishable by execution, or at the very least, exile. But the police captain was not daunted. Perhaps there would be a way to salvage this situation…

"Permit me to say this, Danzou-sempai."

"What is it, Fugaku-kun?"

"Envy does not become you," Fugaku said, steepling his fingers as he stared at the frying seafood in the food stand's portable cooking facility. "Perhaps your concern in my little endeavor, as you call it, is just linked to the fact that I was the one who thought of it first. You had your eye on the position the old man has denied you for how long now? Twenty years?" Danzou's single eye narrowed dangerously at this sore subject. "It is a risky game you play, Uchiha," the leader of ROOT said. "Perhaps it would be wiser to acknowledge that in this round you have lost some ground and quit while you're ahead."

"On the contrary, Danzou-_sempai_. I have every intention of going ahead and accomplishing my plans, whether I have your approval or not."

The leader of ROOT was at a loss for words. Such impudence! He toyed with a small remnant of the crispy outer coating that came from an octopus ball. _You will regret your words this day,_ Danzou promised to himself. Suddenly the old man raised his hands in a gesture that said 'what the hell.' "Very well," the battle-worn warrior said, his expression suddenly amiable again. "And here I was just offering some neighborly advice I thought you might be able to use. Perhaps I had been hasty in offering my counsel where it is obviously not wanted?"

Fugaku did not miss the unsaid "I'll make you pay for that later," in Danzou's words. But this did not need to worry him. Not at this point, anyway. His plans and the bastard snake's had already been initiated. It was only a matter of time before he had total control of the village, and by the time the circle was complete, he would have both the Hokage and that haughty imbecile from ROOT on their knees. Or dead, preferably. Time was all he needed right now.

Time enough to prune the so-called branches of Konoha and reestablish his clan's position at the top of the food chain once and for all.

xxxxx

Meanwhile in a deserted alleyway fifty meters away, a bird-masked ANBU with flowing black hair flickered away. _Hiashi-sama will need to hear about this_, the Branch House member told himself.

xxxxx

Mikoto watched her husband leave with some apprehension. Since when have ANBU started visiting their house? She watched as a servant cleared the table now set only for two. The Uchiha matron sighed. The mansion was becoming far too lonely for her now. She glanced at the clock. Eight o' clock. The second night since Sasuke left for the chuunin exams. If her husband were going home late, perhaps she could call Itachi and speak with him for a while. Then decided against it. The last time she did that, her husband ordered a phone tap on all their lines, with tape recordings on all the conversations. Really. Was what Itachi did so unforgivable to him? It's been six years after all.

Her trained senses detected a presence on their rooftop. Mikoto smiled. Even after all these years her kunoichi instincts were still sharp as the edge of a katana. Still, there was no need to be alarmed at this particular one, despite the overwhelming chakra signatures hidden just barely in the stealth jutsu the shinobi was using. She headed for the kitchen, preparing a pot of wintergreen tea a certain blond visitor always seemed to prefer.

Naruto came in through the kitchen window like he always does, and by then the pot of tea was warming nicely. "Hello Naruto-kun," Mikoto greeted, setting a plate of onigiri in front of the jinchuuriki. "How was the chuunin exam this year?"

"It was…satisfactory."

Now this was new. Mikoto had by now developed a very keen understanding of all the subtle undertones in Naruto's seemingly monotonous tone of voice to know that there was a lot of uncertainty in that last statement. The Uchiha matron sat down in front of the boy, her eyes the very picture of concern. "Care to tell me what's wrong?" The boy narrated the events of the chuunin exam, right up to the words Sakura said. Intermittently, Mikoto interjected to clear up a few points. The narration took thirty minutes in all. The woman nodded at the end of it, her lips pursed in an expression of deep thought.

"Do you believe what she said about you then?"

"Negative, but…I am unsure as of now, Mikoto-san," Naruto admitted. "But I find it hard to comprehend either way. Itachi-sensei taught me that shinobi are tools for the exclusive use of their home villages. Does that not mean that the orders of our handlers are vital in the accomplishment of our missions? I am…confused."

Mikoto took a sip of her tea, noting that Naruto has not touched the onigiri in front of him. This has probably shaken him more than he cares to show. "Perhaps it wouldn't be accurate to say this isn't true," Mikoto began. "But it's not accurate to say that it's false either."

"Explain."

"Shinobi are tools, true. We should value our orders, as well as give a lot of credence to what our superiors tell us," she said in a lecturing tone. "But this is not all there is to it, Naruto-kun."

"Ninja fight for the safety of their home village and to support its economy by taking missions. But they also fight for something else. Something that the ninja in question is very willing to die for. For some people, it is a dream they want fulfilled. For some others, it is to protect their precious people."

Naruto tilted his head, totally confused by this new information. "Precious people?" he mouthed, as if unsure of the feel of the words on his tongue. "What are precious people?"

"These are the people around you that you care about, who care for you as well. These are the people you would very willingly take a kunai to the heart for in a second, people whose opinions matter to you. These are the people warriors from throughout history have held close to their hearts to sustain them in the long years of battle, in the hopes that after each mission they could go back to them."

The blond demon vessel frowned. These were totally new concepts to him. Whereas he had been taught for the longest time that shinobi were supposed to put aside emotions as they were a liability in battle, here was Mikoto, a woman who herself was kunoichi, and suggesting that he hold on to those emotions because he, as a ninja, needs to have something worth fighting for? A contradictory statement to be sure, he realized. This would require more thought.

Naruto downed his tea as fast as protocol would allow, even bit into one of the onigiri laid out in front of him. "Thank you for the information, Mikoto-san," the blond said. "I will require sleep to remedy my fatigue. Please excuse my abrupt departure." On impulse the Uchiha matron reached out and hugged the boy, planting a motherly kiss on his forehead. "It was nothing, Naruto-kun," she said, a smile gracing her delicate features. "You shouldn't hesitate to talk to me about these things in the future. I'm always here for you, as I am with Itachi and Sasuke."

Naruto pulled away from the embrace, looking up wonderingly at this woman. Does this mean she considered him a precious person? Why? What ever did he do to deserve something like this? Hurriedly, the blond bowed and left through the kitchen window, blurring through the rooftops as he ran. After a while, he noticed his vision blurring. It was only when the blond stopped and touched his face did he realize why. His fingers came away wet. Had he been crying?

In the old days, back when he was young, he always associated tears with pain. As he trained with Itachi, Naruto learned to repress tears and all other emotions associated with it, thus ensuring his stay on the Uchiha-born ANBU's better side, who looked upon tears as a sign of weakness. But now it was different. For some reason he found this emotional breakdown oddly comforting, as if a weight had just been removed from his shoulders. Over the years he had learned to suppress his emotions, thinking that this would only be detrimental to the success of his missions. Still, he can't help but feel that somehow there is a void in his very being, like something was left out that should not have been. The tears were flowing faster now, and Naruto felt obliged to take off again for fear that someone sees him having an fall in a tearful mess on the ground. This could not be, he told himself. He was Konoha no Tsurugi, icy and emotionless. Like stone. Like cold blue metal forged in the flames of battle.

He found a spot near the shadow of an old, abandoned building and dropped in. But…he was also Uzumaki Naruto. Thirteen and having the last dregs of his humanity drained out of him by the gallon. The preteen broke down, unable to contain the vast rush of emotions that suddenly found themselves surfacing from the forgotten depths of his tortured psyche. The tears came in torrents now, followed by subdued whimpers which the blond struggled to keep silent.

After all these years, the living weapon rediscovered how to cry.

Naruto cried for Mikoto, for the undeserved love she has shown him. He wept for Itachi, and how his mentor always pushed him away, never directly giving his approval which he so desperately sought. He cried for Sasuke, his brother through Mikoto and Itachi, who never saw him as anything other than the cause for his family splitting up. He cried for love lost and love gained, for the years of his childhood lost to the maelstrom of shinobi training. For Sakura, who cracked open his frozen heart to show him that it still knew how to beat even after all these years. Naruto lost track of time, only noted that the moon fell below the horizon as his tears ran dry and his grief claimed him into unconsciousness.

xxxxx

It was in this building that Vice-Captain Uzuki Yuugao found him. The cat-masked ANBU followed several reported sightings of the blond and followed the most accurate of them to this abandoned construction site. The kunoichi smiled at the boy's prone form and noted with some surprise his tear-stained cheeks. Yuugao lifted him up, careful not to wake her captain's young charge.

She signaled the others, who left immediately after finding their adopted little brother safe and sound. Despite what most people think, ANBU could never survive without developing a massive set of coping mechanisms that bond them all together tighter than blood ever could. These warriors were the front lines, assassination specialists who would have long ago gone insane if not for these bonds. Tenzou, a young lieutenant being groomed to become captain of his own squad, lingered the longest before he nodded. "Take care of the kid," he signaled silently, before blurring out of sight.

Yuugao shifted the blond in her arms until she was carrying him in a modified fireman's lift before she took off for her apartment. It took her thirty minutes to make the journey, making sure that the blond was still secured to her before she went in through the window. Yuugao paused, her feet helping her stand perpendicular to the wall as she used chakra to stick to the concrete. The kunoichi was amused to think that there were so few occasions she ever used her house keys.

She walked to the spare room and laid Naruto on the bed, tucking his prone form deeply in the goose-down comforter. She ambled out of the room and took off her mask, a smile gracing her features as she closed the door. "Looks like you haven't killed his heart after all," she said silently, addressing an absent Itachi.

Thank kami-sama for that tiny blessing.

xxxxx

A/N: Short update, I know. But you have to admit a lot of this stuff is pretty sweet, albeit a tiny bit gay for an action fic.(",)

Plus cameos from the timeskip! W00t! Next chapter: more Konoha political hijinx! Drabble! Fluff! And all things in between!


	23. Tortured Souls

**Tortured Souls**

Tenzou barely glanced up from his cup of coffee as his hand snatched the kunai from the air out of sheer reflex. _The brat's awake,_ he mused. Sure enough, a set of spiky sunshiney locks peeked out from underneath the tangle of sheets, a pair of blue eyes blinking blearily in the morning sunlight. Naruto scratched his head as the living weapon's mind slowly came back to the world of the living. It took a few minutes more before the blond ninja managed to pad over to the dining table and didn't take the coffee offered him. For some reason, he was feeling strangely refreshed today, as if a huge burden was just lifted from his shoulders.

"You had quite the episode last night."

Naruto nodded, his sempai eliminating all traces of doubt about what happened the previous night. The blond took a bite from a stack of waffles placed before him, generously pouring on the maple syrup. His eyes roamed the kitchen he recognized his current location as the apartment of Uzuki Yuugao, vice captain of the ANBU corps Itachi was a part of. Tenzou, Naruto knew from experience, was probably the only person who would be able to control his erratic bursts of chakra from time to time. And if he was here…

"I apologize for the trouble I caused," Naruto said automatically. "How badly did I lose control?"

Tenzou sipped his coffee from under the mask, tilting the high density ceramic every now and then to prevent himself from revealing his face. "Your chakra patterns were stable all throughout last night Naruto-kun," he said. "I was left here because the vice captain didn't want you to wake up alone. How do you feel?" Naruto's were downcast. Instantly the older ninja felt the boy tense up, as if he were reluctant to respond to the question. This was new, as the boy never really hesitated at anything in all the years Tenzou knew him.

"You want to talk about it?" the ANBU offered.

"No."

"Ah."

The pair ate their breakfast in relative silence, broken only ever so often as the cutlery scraped against the plates. This went on for a few minutes more before the next attempt at conversation was made. "You know," the senior ninja said, chewing thoughtfully as he reached for the maple syrup "I remember the first time I _broke_ like that. It's actually to be expected of people in our line of work. The mental stress the constant high level missions create…" he shuddered, swallowing the partially chewed waffle in his mouth. "Well, you know how to deal with it now at any rate."

_I'm not sure I actually do_, Naruto didn't say. He drank a glass of juice, washing down the morsels of food down his throat. He was familiar with the phenomenon. Most senior ANBU experienced breaking at one point or another, their frazzled mental states triggering a powerful emotional outburst thus relieving the mind of all its psychogical baggage in one fell swoop. Shinobi psychotherapists term it as an advanced version of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and it was a disease known only to manifest in the higher levels of ANBU.

"It shouldn't have happened to you though."

"Affirmative. I should have never lost control."

Tenzou _tsked_, his head shaking in disbelief at what he was hearing. His body triggers a mental coping mechanism involuntarily and the kid thinks he still had a choice in the matter. Itachi was working the boy too hard, he concluded. Maybe the move to demote him to genin had been the best course of action. The senior shinobi had doubts in the beginning, but now… Had the Uchiha continued to train the boy with his insane training methods, who knew exactly what would happen if Naruto's mind could not cope.

Uzumaki would break, yes. But there would be no coming back like last night.

"Yuugao-sempai tells me you got transferred to Hatake-sempai's genin team," Tenzou said conversationally, changing the topic. "What's he like as a jounin-sensei?" Naruto would have shrugged if hundreds of hours of training had not purged the habit out of his system. "I wouldn't know. Kakashi-sensei has not started teaching me anything as of yet."

"True," the older man pointed out. "But then again you have been on the team for a couple of days now. It can't have been easy for him to decide what kind of training you still need at this point." The blond nodded.

"Affirmative."

_But I don't belong there,_ the blond thought to himself. His skills would only dull with the constant exposure to the inanities of a genin team. His edge would disappear, the carefully maintained arsenal of killing jutsu and weapon handling technique would dull from disuse. What was Hokage-sama thinking when he took him out of active duty?!

"I don't belong with them."

"Pardon?"

Naruto's eyes turned and looked straight at the elite ANBU. The older man briefly realized that this was probably the fiercest display of emotion he'd ever witnessed in those crystal blue orbs. His epiphany was disrupted, however, as the former junior ANBU spoke.

"The genin team," the blond stated. "It seems so very wrong to me somehow. I cannot progress properly with two others to drag along behind me. What is the point of this exercise? Should it not be more tactically wise to keep me where I would be at my maximum effectivity?" The blond caught himself just as his voice rose an octave. He cleared his throat and began again. "What I mean is, I question the validity of my unit transfer. I would like to ask if you knew something about why this was done to me."

"I see," Tenzou said, clearing the table and placing the dishes under the faucet in the sink. He switched on the tap, let the water rinse the implements awhile, and turned to face the boy. This ritual was followed by a quick rag to remove the morsels of food on the table. "There must be a reason why you were never told…"

_Never told what?! Tell me!_ Naruto almost screamed at the older man, but held his ground and his frustration in check. Too much had happened in the past few days that caused his once perfect world to come crashing down around him like a house of cards. And to top it off, Sasuke hated him, Sakura probably feared him, and none of the other jounin appear to have trusted their students being around him. In all probability, his skills was possibly the same as a newly-raised jounin, and the blond still hadn't broken the surface of his demon chakra capabilities. None of the current conditions would ensure that he'd even grow past his present abilities, and to the living weapon, this was quite the irritating situation indeed.

"I cannot promise to know precisely why," Tenzou said finally, taking his seat in front of the very vexed shinobi. "There are many theories which could explain the Sandaime's rationale. As a soldier you were one of the easiest to train, and thanks to your…tenant, your coercive potential may well exceed a Kage by the time you reach the age of eighteen. You became known in the ranks of ANBU as the Tsurugi, the Sword, the terrible weapon poised to strike from the silent darkness of the night."

"You were growing too strong Naruto," the ANBU said. "Too strong for any of us to effectively anticipate what the peak of your strength will even be. And, as effective a teacher as Uchiha-teicho was to you, he could never teach you the one thing that would make you complete."

"He could never teach you to be human."

The blond looked at the other ninja with what could have been interpreted as a look of surprise to anyone knowing what he was looking for. Tenzou knew the boy enough to be able to identify the slight differences of the blond's facial expressions, which to everyone else appeared identical. If it had been anyone else, Naruto would by all rights be gaping by now.

"I…I don't understand."

"'_Hone a sword too eagerly and it will dull,'_" Tenzou quoted from a Fire Country poet. "_'Sheathe a sword, it will last.'_ The author of the verse spoke of the warrior's life, of how he must learn to balance the art of battle with the arts of life. You cannot subsist on war alone, Naruto. Especially in these times of peace. How would you live should there be no battle to make use of your unique talents? What if war never breaks out? Of what use will the Konoha no Tsurugi be then?"

Tenzou blinked as he watched the demoted junior ANBU stand and walk away. "Where do you think you're going?" he inquired.

The blond looked back at him, his eyes dark and distant. "I must train," he said. The older man understood. There was much to think about, and often the best way to get the brain working was to work the body to a point where all it is capable of is thinking. Tenzou took another sip of his coffee, watching as his sempai's ward exited the apartment through the fire escape. Naruto bent out the ledge and pinwheeled backward into the street below, his rather dramatic exeunt marked only by the slight sound of a breeze.

"Perhaps it would be much wiser to teach him the use of doors," Tenzou said, briefly swishing the caffeinated beverage in his mouth as he did so.

xxxxx

Inuzuka Hana walked the length of the corridor towards Kiba's private suite. The sterile confines of the hospital didn't bother her as much as it did other people. She worked with the medical arts, after all, if only on dogs not humans. Basically the principle was the same. What Hana did for her family's kennel as well as the occasional civilian pet was the same as what the doctors of this hospital did for their patients. She healed and nurtured, the same as the doctors diagnosed and treated.

She stopped by the water dispenser by the nurse's station and shook her head. Seriously, what kind of moron would put a water heater all the way in the nurse's station? Didn't they think that visitors of patients from all the way in the third _fucking_ floor wouldn't want any coffee from there as well? Hana shook her head, deciding that good caffeine is worth the aggravation.

Which goes without saying that she doesn't trust that irradiated excuse for rocket fuel her mother calls "Inuzuka Mocha."

"Inuzuka Mocha," Hana said tentatively, testing the words out on her tongue. There's a good idea there somewhere. Maybe the family ought to branch out, maybe put a café within the veterinary station's premises where patients could get coffee and cake? It's worth thinking about, she decided, taking a small sip of the instant she put inside the thermos, calculating the sums it would take to start such an endeavor in her mind. Ah, good. Normal, honest to Kami-sama, coffee.

Did I mention how little she trusts her own mother's Inuzuka Mocha?

"Do you have a band-aid? Cause I scraped myself when I fell for you."

Hana froze. Pathetic pickup line said with an even more pathetic imitation of a (choke) sexy voice? Check. Lecherous tone and the distinct flare in her woman's intuition that someone was (I pity the fool, says I!) staring at her breasts? Check again. She turned, her mouth opening in shock at the confirmation of all her suspicions. "Jiraiya-sama?!" she cried. "What are you—"

The spiky-headed sennin put a single finger across his lips and grinned conspiratorially. The dog ninja followed his gaze, ending at a group of people with a distinctly familiar clan sigil emblazoned on their clothing. Uchiha Itachi was looking very much like a cornered canary, one who had walked straight into a tiger exhibit in a zoo. To his credit, the ANBU captain has schooled all his features, only a single blank expression masking his face. Hana recognized Fugaku-sama from one of the clan meetings in Konoha council, remembering all the boring speeches he tended to make in the process. But now all the stern discipline was drained from his face, replaced by…frustration?

"What in the hell—"

"Listen child. That family has more issues than the Konoha times. This should make for some very interesting conversations."

"And I thought you only peeped on naked women," the Inuzuka dog trainer muttered under her breath. "Super pervert indeed." It took a few more seconds before Hana nonchalantly gathered chakra to her ears. To give Jiraiya the benefit of the doubt, of course. There must be something there that he wanted her to hear, didn't he?

The initial spike in her olfactory abilities was quickly suppressed by years of training and discipline. There were subtle hints of unease in Itachi, though that was overpowered by his overpowering confidence. Despite what Fugaku's lackeys seemed to show outwardly, they smelled of a prickly sort of hesitation and fear. The Uchiha patriarch on the other hand was radiating pure frustration, as if he were a bitch who didn't quite know what to do with a particularly recalcitrant pup.

"What are you doing here?"

"Am I now forbidden from visiting my own brother?"

"Be silent, traitor! Realize who it is you speak to!"

Hana raised an eyebrow. Traitor? She had heard about the falling out of the Uchiha and their heir, but that was perhaps too strong a word. The encounter continued for a few more minutes, Itachi standing his ground as Fugaku-sama berated him endlessly with the most vicious words the ninja veterinarian ever heard from any individual, shinobi or not. "They're going to need some space," Jiraiya said, startling the girl as the sennin reminded her of his presence. "Any more of this and the two of them are going to break out into blows."

"Jiraiya-sama! We shouldn't be here!"

"Quiet!"

"But Jiraiya-_sama_!"

The sennin cursed inwardly as a pair of coal-black eyes stared him down. One of the Uchiha patriarch's lackeys even activated his bloodline, an intimidation tactic which was lost on the spiky-haired elder shinobi. "Eh heh," Jiraiya gulped, loosening the nonexistent collar around his neck. "Did we catch you two at a bad time?"

Fugaku's eye twitched. "Not at all Jiraiya-sama," the patriarch said. "I was just leaving. Forgive me for my outburst, it was ignoble of me to act so rudely in front of one such as yourself."

_Plus the fact that he can probably kick your ass sixty million ways 'til Sunday_, Hana said to herself, keeping her expression as schooled as she could. Fugaku bowed in front of the both of them, completely ignoring his firstborn. The lackeys followed, their eyes glowing with undisguised hate as they passed over the ANBU captain. It was a few minutes after the Uchiha troupe left that Itachi managed a small "Thank you."

"Think nothing of it kid," Jiraiya said, grinning. "It looked like you needed a major helping hand back there." The raven-haired ANBU slumped across the wall, his eyes trained at nothing as he gazed listlessly at the ceiling. Hana excused herself to go find her brother and neither of the men spoke a word to stop her.

"This is too much," the Uchiha said finally. "Otou-sama's vendetta against my student is becoming too misdirected in its intensity."

"He still hasn't gotten over that, has he?" Itachi barked out a bitter laugh.

"Unfortunately no," the younger ninja said, continuing to lean against the hallway plaster. "Neither does it seem like it's going to let up anytime soon. Naruto-kun was never meant to be the focal point of all the people's frustration against the demon fox. How can people not see that they are two very different things?" The toad hermit shook his head.

"People can be very blind sometimes," he said. "The Sandaime himself can do nothing against this kind of thing. What makes you so sure you can?"

Itachi straightened up, his eyes directed at the hall where the Uchiha had departed. "Perhaps the truth of the matter is," the ANBU began "that no one truly understands just how dangerous Naruto can be once provoked. Perhaps the people would do well to understand just how."

"I don't think I like the direction this conversation is taking."

"With all due respect Jiraiya-sama, I'm sure you don't."

The sennin's eyes blazed with anger. "Listen you little snot," Jiraiya spat. "I was there when they signed the directives. If you didn't know, I was one of the two who opposed this entire power game in the first place! One of us was so upset that she packed her bags and left, remember? Don't you dare lump me in with those sadistic bastards who commit cruelty in the name of the common good, you arrogant brat!"

The taller and bulkier shinobi loomed over his junior, his own facial expressions brimming over with fury. "You hypocrite," the spiky-haired sage spat. "Little do you know that you're the same as them. Playing people like puppets seem to be the in thing with you Uchiha."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Jiraiya gave him a disappointed look.

"Uzumaki Naruto is not just an ANBU super weapon. You better remember that the next time you make like a self-righteous, sanctimonious bastard."

With that the sennin turned and stalked away, muttering expletives under his breath. Itachi stared blankly at his retreating form and shook his head. "Crazy old fart," the ANBU said out loud.

xxxxx

A/N: Sorry about the lack of updates. I actually worked on four simultaneous chapters as I was writing this, and I couldn't really get them all to tie together. Short update I realize, but it gets longer by next chappie. Keep reading and thanks for the support!


	24. Prelude

**Prelude  
**

_Itachi looked impassively at the face of his father, his inner rage barely contained within his emotionless façade. Uchiha Fugaku sat in the middle of the Council of Elders, the highest ruling body within the clan. They had interrogated him for hours on end, questioning him about the terms regarding the Hokage's orders. Training the Kyuubi brat had been something that earned the elite ANBU the ire of the entire clan. Well, most of the ones that mattered anyway. "The Council of Elders rule that Uchiha Itachi," said one grandfatherly former shinobi "has transgressed clan law by allowing within its hallowed compound the very thing which symbolizes the greatest catastrophe the village has ever faced. The Kyuubi no kitsune--"_

"_He is not the Kyuubi."_

_All eyes were on the heir of the clan as his expression turned furious. "Uzumaki Naruto is not the nine tailed fox," Itachi stated in a flat monotone, his fierce gaze never wavering for one second. "He is a boy bound to a fate he did not deserve merely because of bigots like you who can't see him for what he is."_

"_Uchiha Itachi, do you realize what you are saying?" yelled one councilman, indignant at the teen's outburst. "Or has the fox managed to hold you in its thrall?!" _

"_This is a dangerous game you play Itachi!" _

"_I agree! This is blasphemy in its purest form!"_

"_I would like to remind the Council that we are still in session," Fugaku reminded them. "Whether or not Itachi's guilt is decided is a matter of protocol. The proceedings will continue until sufficient evidence--"_

"_What do you mean sufficient evidence?! He's been training the baka fox day and night for the past three years now! What more evidence do you need?!"_

"_He's not the Kyuubi…"_

"_See how your son defends him! How deep the Kyuubi has the heir of the Uchiha in its thrall!"_

_By now Itachi was clenching his fists hard enough to draw blood through his nails. It was never Naruto's fault he was who he was. He was not the same as the nine tailed fox, he was just a confused little kid given too much responsibility for his own good. "Be that as it may," Fugaku said, once order was restored once again "the issue lies in whether or not Itachi has been using clan techniques to train his apprentice. Our bloodline is our most precious commodity, second to that is our clan techniques. Uchiha Itachi, have you been training Uzumaki Naruto in the ways of the Uchiha?"_

"_I testify that I did not train my apprentice in such a manner," was the reply. "His training consists of something that I have developed for myself, utilizing methods now being tested within the higher levels of shinobi hierarchy in Konoha." Soft murmurs followed this response. _

"_Do you not realize that as clan heir any technique you develop will belong to the Uchiha first and the outside world second?" Fugaku began again. "Your first duty as a member of this clan is to help strengthen it in any way possible."_

"_My first loyalty is to the village, not to the clan," Itachi countered. "Have you forgotten father? I am a shinobi of the Leaf. As such my responsibilities will always regard the village as first priority." The council was in an uproar._

"_What insolence!"_

"_This disloyalty alone deserves proper punishment!"_

"_Is that all you have to say, slanderous brat!?"_

"_No it is not," Itachi said, much to the surprise of the Elder Council. "You people have seen this clan as the invincible and invaluable to the forces of Konoha. Through your insane fascination of yourselves you have come to believe that the Uchiha are the only ones recognized as deserving of power."_

"_I will tell you the truth then. Our clan has grown weak, atrophied from its narrow mindedness and sheltered philosophies. We have lost the true strength we once possessed, so caught up in our own arrogance have we become. With Uzumaki Naruto I have come to realize that I am in the unique position to create a shinobi of the highest caliber. To balance strength with ingenuity, raw power with precise control. These are my goals in training this boy." Itachi's eyes looked up, leveling his stare at the crowd of sputtering clansmen. His gaze was strong, confident, as if he were some sort of leonine predator who managed to trap himself in the middle of a circle of angry male elks._

"_In Uzumaki Naruto I have seen the potential of people outside of elite bloodlines. The boy possesses an aptitude for combat I have not seen since the age of war not too long ago. None can predict how strong he will become in the future for countless possibilities lie within his grasp. Through Uzumaki Naruto, I will show this clan what true strength really means. Strength that does not depend on any single bloodline. Strength that comes from a strong force of will."_

_By now the entire Council was on edge as if preparing to pounce on the ANBU. Itachi gave the sudden spike in killing intent no mind, leveling his gaze at his own father. "I will not stop training him," he stated. "This is my decision."_

_Fugaku was unresponsive for thirty seconds. He sighed, and then with a casual glance at the others, made his verdict as clan head. "The Council has heard my son's testimony," he began. "He admits to being guilty of breaking clan laws by training Uzumaki Naruto for three years without the approval of the Elder Council. As punishment, Uchiha Itachi's name will no longer be written in the clan registry. He will not be known as an Uchiha to people within the clan and as such is therefore banned from inheriting the position of clan head." The police captain's penetrating gaze was returned with no less intensity by his son, who chose not to let his feelings surface. The final crucifying words delivered, each one a hammer-blow to Itachi's soul…_

"_As of today, Itachi is no longer my son."_

xxxxx

Sasuke woke up in a cold sweat, his chest heaving. He looked around him, surprised to find pristine white walls before his mind caught up to him. The genin slumped into the bed, burying his head into the pillow. _The hospital_, Sasuke realized. He wondered how long he had been out—

"Hey there sport. Thought you'd never wake up back there."

The raven-haired shinobi turned to see his elderly uncle Teyaki sitting by his bedside reading a paperback novel. The old man smiled warmly, his wrinkled features radiating ever sort of positive vibe most shinobi could never accomplish. "I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by with a fruit basket in case you were up already," he explained, motioning to one placed on the other side of Sasuke's bed. "I would have brought flowers but I didn't think it'd look well for me to give a male relative those things if you know what I mean," Teyaki said with a wink. Sasuke smiled weakly at that.

Uchiha Teyaki was one of the few clansmen who did not pursue a ninja-related form of employment. Instead he focused on commodities trading, shipping goods made from Konoha to the nearby countries of Tea, Wave (before the Gatoh trade blockade) and River. He had retired years before and devoted his time to quiet retirement. Sasuke remembered coming over his house intermittently in his childhood, enjoying aunt Uruchi's cooking and Teyaki's ceaseless banter about his youth as a traveler of the world.

"Uncle Teyaki," Sasuke managed, surprised at how much it hurt to talk. "How long had I been out?" The old man looked up a bit, tapping an edge of the paperback novel on his chin as he did so. "I'd say roughly about three days," he said finally. "The medics said something about you needing to be put under due to some sort of repeated percussive damage or some crap like that in medicalese. Anyway, I hope you feel okay now."

"I do uncle. Thank you."

"Which reminds me," Teyaki said, wandering over to the other side of the bed to fetch an apple from a fruit basket laying there "those two kids from your team came by with that weirdo in the mask. The weirdo said to meet him at the old training ground so you can start traveling."

"Did he say why?"

Teyaki took a bite of the apple, chewing thoughtfully. "Something about a special training session for the main matches I think," the old man said. "This something to do with that chuunin exam thing I keep hearing so much about?" Sasuke relaxed visibly. So he had made it to the main matches after all. For a minute there he almost thought he'd been defeated by that Inuzuka bastard. "Yes uncle," the boy said quickly. "That's the last part of the exam. After that, we find out which one of us makes chuunin or not."

The older man nodded at that, finishing off the apple and throwing the core in a nearby wastebasket. "I remember when your brother made chuunin," Sasuke's uncle said. "Fugaku damn near tore the compound apart with that party of his. Itachi was young for a chuunin, so I'd heard. Your father was so proud of him, you know."

Sasuke became downcast at that, his fists clenching involuntarily. Too many painful memories. His father looking at him with disdain in his eyes when he saw that his grades weren't as good as Itachi's. Itachi had mastered the Goukakyuu at the age of six, whereas Sasuke did it at the age of nine. Always the boy came short of his father's expectations. Sometimes it seemed as if his brother was the only one who was even proud of him.

Maybe he was, at that.

"Why the long face kiddo?"

"N-nothing," Sasuke said, shaking his head as if to ward off something. "When did they say I can get out?"

"The doctor was here half an hour ago. They said they'd keep you in overnight observation after you wake up so I figure you'd be out of here tomorrow morning." Teyaki reached for another piece of fruit and offered it to his nephew. "Hey you really should eat something you know," he said, handing over the banana. "Hospital food tastes like crap. I should know. At least these things are remotely edible."

"Thanks…"

Sasuke peeled the fruit absently, taking small bites and chewing slowly to roll the pieces of food in his mouth. "So…" Teyaki began, helping himself to a pear this time. "What seems to be bothering you kiddo?"

"It's nothing…"

"Nothing? How can it be nothing when I can see on your face that it is something?"

"Uncle…"

"Look, if there's anything bothering you…"

"I'm fine uncle," Sasuke snapped. "There's nothing to worry about!" The pair sat in silence as the older man blinked, unsure of how to respond to the boy's sudden burst of outrage. Teyaki shrugged his shoulders, biting into the pair as Sasuke looked downcast. He didn't mean to yell at his uncle like that…

"I'm sorry," Sasuke breathed, meaning every word. "It's just that--"

Teyaki waved his hand in what seemed to be a dismissive gesture. "Don't worry about it kiddo," he said reassuringly. "You've been through a lot, and I guess it just wasn't this old man's place to stick my nose in your business this time. But if you ever need someone to talk to, you know where to find your uncle Teyaki right?"

"Thank you…"

"Oh and before I forget," Teyaki said suddenly, snapping the fingers on his free hand. "Your brother was here yesterday. He was here until your old man came along. Had a row with him I think. Don't know what could have caused it, on account of I went out to make myself a sandwich--"

Sasuke tuned out his uncle's words when he heard about his father visiting. And fighting with his father again, it seemed. How big of a deal was it for him to train Uzumaki Naruto? Was it truly enough for him to sacrifice his place on the clan? What was his brother thinking? Teyaki got up to open the door, letting Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura in the room. Sasuke couldn't make himself smile, so many things were clouding his mind. His pitch black eyes looked out the window, his mind lost in thought.

xxxxx

Naruto was standing in the middle of a pond created by the waterfalls not fifteen meters behind him practicing his katas. He moved with deliberate slowness, critiquing himself on form more than power. Power he had lots of, and in the art of taijutsu it is often form that dictates how effectively that power is delivered. The blond had dressed down, leaving only his white shirt and boxers as he had left the orange jumpsuit on the shores ("A lesson in stealth," Itachi called it). He had a lot of control when it came to water walking, but when he ran out of chakra at the end of the day, even he on occasion fell through the surface of the water, thus drenching himself. The training relied on him always being on the water's surface, thus making sure he increased his now gigantic chakra capacities at the same time as he perfected his taijutsu form.

There were intruders in the training field, this much the shinobi had confirmed. For about half an hour now, Uzumaki Naruto felt himself being watched by people hiding just out of his sight. Since the presences had yet to make themselves known (or declared themselves hostile), the blond chose to ignore them in favor of practicing the Hakke katas his former sense had drilled into him so many times he could perform them in his sleep.

Movement.

Naruto's eyes scanned the trees as he pivoted on one heel, seemingly still absorbed within the complicated movements of the kata. He had to alter his routine subtly to allow him to scan the area again; reaching out with his trained senses to whatever it was that caused the disturbance.

There it was again.

By now Naruto was standing straight in the middle of the water, adopting the attitude that was "Open on All Eight Sides." He stretched a bit, to disguise his level of preparedness, but he knew that whoever it was that was watching him had to have noticed that his target knew where he was. It was only a matter of time before the presences revealed themselves…

"So you're Uzumaki Naruto."

Speak of the devil. The six-foot form of the Suna shinobi appeared some distance behind him and the Oto kunoichi following the other started approaching him from the trees where, presumably, they had been hidden with a high level stealth genjutsu. By now the blond had turned to face the pair, his mind a whirlwind of strategies and ideas on how to possibly avoid this conflict. He can't afford to cause a diplomatic incident in this point in time, but should the pair strike first…

The Sand ninja looked to be of jounin rank, a combat specialist wearing the standard Wind Country flak jacket and armored pads across both forearms. He carried a sickly curved one and a half meter odachi held loosely in his left hand, with numerous little scrolls hanging from strings on his belt. A grim smile was imprinted on his scarred and hairless features as he gazed upon Naruto with only one grayish functioning eye, his left one looking a bit glazed from what seems to be a cataract of some sort. He had the face of an executioner, the blond mused, his thoughts wandering momentarily before he focused again nanoseconds later.

The Sound kunoichi had blackish cropped hair, possibly chuunin level, and was carrying no visible weapons whatsoever. Possibly a ninjutsu or genjutsu specialist, Naruto decided. If push came to shove he may need to take her out first to make sure the Sand ninja was less of a threat than he already was. "Konoha no Tsurugi I presume," the kunoichi said, running her tongue over the black gloss coating her lips. "Such a pity. I had a thing for blonds too, and if you had been a bit older…" A slight shudder, almost sensual in its nature. She smiled again, her companion readying his odachi for a horizontal strike as she held her hands out in the tiger seal.

"Too bad you've been sentenced to die…"

Naruto caught the flicker of movement, allowing the odachi to graze his cheek as he blocked the follow-up snap kick the Suna jounin aimed at him. The blond rode the blow, wiping a hand on the blood on his cheek as he swiped the fluid on identical seal tattoos inscribed on both forearms. The Leaf shinobi activated the storage tattoos and drew his identical wakizashi, a drastic deviance from his usual Konoha Ryuu, the strategy the blond uses for most normal conflicts. "**Niten Ryuu**," (**Two-Heavens Style**) Naruto breathed, dropping into a stance with a wakizashi in both hands.

The Suna jounin smiled wickedly and slashed with his odachi again, the satisfying clang of both blades against his monstrous weapon, forcing Naruto's ankles below the water. Naruto's immediate vision turned blurry, causing him to fail to anticipate the sudden back fist lashed out by the Sand ninja. The blond slid across the water for a good fifteen meters before he recovered, dispelling the minor field genjutsu with intermittent bursts of chakra as he concentrated on the Suna ninja's melee attack.

The Sound kunoichi was making the fight more complicated than necessary, having cast several successive field genjutsu that broke Naruto's concentration repeatedly as the Suna jounin struck with the monstrous odachi. By the first ten minutes, Naruto was worse for the wear, having weathered six successive sword strikes and dispelled the genjutsu at the same time. The two opponents were toying with him, he realized. Like a kitten with its food. There was no escaping this conflict, and the blond knew that he would have to improvise; else he would end up dying in the end. The Sound kunoichi's hands kept flying into seals as the Sand ninja's melee attacks grew fiercer and more concentrated by the minute.

By some miracle of timing and athleticism, Naruto broke through the odachi's defenses, flying in the arc of the swing with a burst of speed from chakra enhanced legs as he ran across the water's surface. The blond blurred forwards, positioning his wakizashi in a scissor-strike move that would have been powerful enough to sever the head from the Suna jounin, only to watch the fighter waver in front of him as another crushing blow slammed into his solar plexus. Naruto winced, the full strength of the attack becoming evident as he flew backwards into the waterfall, crashing into the rock wall behind it with a vengeance. The blond found he was still holding onto his wakizashi, the pair of blades hanging loosely in both hands as he struggled to force his aching body upright. Thankfully no ribs were broken this time. But were he to take another hit like that…

The pair of was calmly walking towards him, the kunoichi's hands still held in the final seal of the vision genjutsu as the shinobi held out his odachi in the beginnings of a decapitating strike aimed at their target. "I guess you're not as strong as they say you are," the Sand ninja said conversationally. "Either that or your purposefully holding back on us. Give it up kid. If you don't take us seriously you're gonna die. Do you want to die? I don't think so."

"Shut up and finish him Kazemaru," the kunoichi snapped. "We don't have all day." The odachi wielder waved her words away.

"Shut your pie hole bitch," the Suna ninja said, positioning himself in front of the woman as he held out his weapon in a stance. "I've been waiting for a challenge like this for years. I'll be damned if I don't let this brat make things more interesting. He's lasted this far, and that's surprising enough for a genin. I want to see what he's really made of."

Naruto was silent, observing the pair's banter as he held onto his wakizashi in a defensive stance, points aimed downward like the fangs of a great serpent. He observed the conversation a bit more and he realized that he may have found a crack in their seemingly flawless strategy. The woman was far more professional, having realized the necessity of finishing off an opponent without allowing him to react with a potentially damaging retaliation. The jounin's ego would be the death of him, Naruto realized. Waiting for an opponent to show his true strength would only mean he was opening himself to an attack that could potentially kill him. The blond shook his head, amazed at the open arrogance of the Sand ninja. It was a small consolation, but he'd take what he could get.

The kunoichi blinked and missed the point where Naruto launched himself forwards, running once again on the water's surface. The jounin Kazemaru grinned and slashed his weapon horizontally, making sure to leave his right hand free to follow up the strike with a crushing back fist attack when Naruto got close enough. Surprisingly, the blond didn't strike. He released the chakra in his legs and dove into the water as he avoided the swing meant to decapitate him, moving as a silent shadow just beneath the dark blue surface.

The Sand jounin cursed at the loss of his prey, his one functioning eye glancing wildly around the pond for the blond shinobi he was sent here to terminate. The kunoichi was livid, openly angry at the juvenile swordsman for letting an opportunity to finish this fight evaporate like so much steam from a boiling kettle. "You idiot!" she screamed. "Now look at what you've done! You've let him escape!"

The Sand ninja crooked his head, seemingly to listen intently at something. "No," he said after a few moments. "He's still here in the area. I think he's gonna try and strike back." The kunoichi looked at him questioningly before she drew a kunai and positioned herself behind him. There was no way she was going to live if ever she let the brat get away alive. In the distance was a whispered "**kirigakure no jutsu**" (**hidden mist technique**) and within seconds the entire pond was wrapped in a thick fog.

"Shit," the jounin cursed. "This'll complicate things…" The kunoichi rolled her eyes, biting back a snide comment as she knew all noise would lead the blond over to where they both were. Otogakure was built totally underground, where light was a very precious commodity. If anything, the Otonin was at an advantage, seeing as most of the combat exercises she was trained with was done in total darkness. She wasn't about to lose her head over a petty thing like losing visual contact with the target, so long as she was able to utilize other ways of detecting him. The pair stood back to back on the water's surface for a few minutes more, anticipating any and all incoming strikes from the blond Leaf ninja. A muffled scream caused the Suna jounin to turn to one side, surprise evident on his face as he found the kunoichi's chakra signatures missing. Perhaps the boy had killed her then, he decided. He kept his calm, believing that he was better off not having someone to drag him down when the time came to kill the little bastard.

Suddenly the mist covering dissolved into nothingness, revealing the pond and waterfall surrounded by the small forest which served as Uzumaki Naruto's personal training ground. The Sound kunoichi was still nowhere to be found, as was the blond quarry. The jounin gripped the hilt of his odachi hard, reaching out with his senses the direction from which the blond would strike. The scent of fresh cherry blossom petals quickly filled the air, and in all honesty the Suna ninja was surprised to find a barrage of sakura petals blowing around in the air around him. A stray petal nicked his cheek and the executioner's eyes widened when he realized they were drawing blood.

These were no ordinary flower petals, he realized finally.

The strikes came seemingly from nowhere, slashing repeatedly at the jounin as instincts took over. It took an eyeblink for his senses to register that the blond was seemingly materializing out of the petals, slashing and stabbing with both wakizashi in measured arcs woven within a complex dance of death. Kazemaru winced with every blow, noting not for the first time how incredibly powerful the Uzumaki brat's strikes were and how difficult it was to counterattack with an oversized blade. An odachi was no use for close quarters, but a wakizashi was another story. It was of no matter, the jounin told himself. The brat would reveal his attack pattern soon enough, and then it would be over.

A mighty swing at empty air followed a strike to the Sand ninja's gut, slicing open his flak jacket as the blond dematerialized into a horde of needle-like flower petals. By now the jounin was ignoring the wounds struck by the petals, dismissing them as mere annoyances he would live with. Besides, he reasoned, when the blond was dead they'd dispel, right?

The strikes kept coming with the intensity of a fierce rainstorm, and not for the first time Kazemaru wondered just how much stamina the boy was purported to have. He once fought one on one with the snake bastard himself and held his own, it was said. But the Sand ninja knew that oftentimes reports were exaggerated more than they were true. Only this time perhaps it would have been wise to believe it. The man's exposed flesh was dotted and lined with a myriad of small cuts, all emanating from the strange flower petals that somehow had the ability to pierce human flesh. The Sand jounin could not decide if it was just some sort of arcane ninjutsu or a genjutsu designed to distract him from the blond's strikes. All he knew was—

**Pain!**

The jounin sank to his knees in the water before he managed to catch himself and pull his feet out onto the surface once again. His vision was blurry for some reason, and for the first time found himself covered from head to toe with a surprising number of senbon needles. The blond Uzumaki brat was standing right across him, that annoying blank look on his face as he held onto a single needle between the tips of his left thumb and forefinger, the second wakizashi held precariously in between. Naruto was more than impressed with the jounin's constitution, as he had managed to weather through a total of one hundred and forty five separate strikes with poisoned senbon, each one disguised by the **Magen: Oka Senbon **(**Demonic Illusion: Cherry Blossom Needles**)genjutsu. All the senbon were sticking out of the jounin's skin, dotting the flesh like a human porcupine.

The Suna jounin's lips bled with darkened blood made thick with Leaf ninja toxins, his eyes wide with surprise as beads of cold sweat formed on his forehead. "Y-you…bastard…" the jounin managed, before he lost all control of his chakra and sank into the waters of the clear blue pond. Naruto saw his body drift awhile before the water soaked through his clothes, dragging him into the bottom of the underwater caverns beneath the pond. The shinobi lingered for a few moments more before he walked calmly across the water towards shore, where he had deposited the woman (bound with ninja wire, of course) under the watchful eyes of a pair of water clones.

The woman looked at him with open hate in her eyes, promising a painful death to the recipient of the glare. The two water clones saluted him and made way for their creator to pass. Naruto ignored her attempts to break out of her ninja wire bonds, aiming the edge of an ivory-hilted wakizashi at her throat when he spoke. "You will tell me who ordered my assassination," Naruto said, his voice an ever flat monotone.

"Or you will die painfully."

"Fuck you…"

"As you like it," Naruto said, his hands flaring into a set of seals too fast to follow. **"Magen: Akumu **(**Demonic Illusion: Nightmare**)," the blond ninja whispered, pouring chakra directly into the kunoichi's conscious mind.

The kunoichi writhed against the force of the mental torture genjutsu, struggling against her bonds so fiercely she was drawing blood. Naruto had no intention of stopping the onslaught of telepathic torment until he was certain that the woman could give him what he wanted. In the end, the boy was planning on releasing the jutsu after thirty seconds, counting out the time allotted slowly in his mind. She would be more agreeable then. If not, well…

"Rinse and repeat," Ibiki-sempai said to him once.

The observer watched the scene carefully, shaking her head at the failure of the two assassins. The boy was more powerful than any of them realized, and this mission would be written off as a failure. Fingering a trio of senbon needles, poisoned to such a degree that a single drop of the concoction dropped in a medium-sized fish pond would kill all the fish therein, the watcher took aim and threw…

xxxxx

I thank you all for reading and reviewing. Truthfully I wasn't planning on updating this fic for at least another week, but well...here is the next chapter.

I'll try and work on the political conspiracy arc for a while with the Uchiha, Root and Orochimaru. This chapter will probably be a prelude to what will come of the series in the future. I can't promise that the main matches will be covered any time soon but once they are, prepare yourself for some of the most well-written large-scale battle sequences in fandom. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

A couple of notes on genjutsu though:

The reason why Oka Senbon shouldn't work is that pain is a natural triggering point for the dispelling of a genjutsu below class A. So I made this one class triple S.(",)

I plead creative license.

So there.

Oh come on. Itachi's a genjutsu specialist after all. Why can't he test out these things on Naruto of all people? Especially since he can (of all the people in Konoha) re-grow burned out parts of his cerebral cortex should Itachi go overkill.(",)


	25. Plots

**Plots**

The trio of poisoned needles took slightly deviating flight paths with each other, propelled by an almost casual flick of a wrist and a burst of chakra. It would take them approximately 3.786 seconds to reach their target, too little time for a certain blond ninja to counterattack properly.

Naruto by this time was distracted by the careful outpouring of brainwave torturing chakra, his small hands held in the final seal to the almost lethal jutsu. It was mere luck that he stopped the first wave just as the needles reached his extended senses, but his chakra-drained reflexes at that point were too sluggish to react. He turned his head, and from the very corners of his periphery he watched the needles impact…

…Straight into the cartroid arteries of the Oto kunoichi.

A burst of blue chakra slashed and burned the air as they launched themselves from one of Naruto's hastily picked up wakizashi. "**Aoi Setsudanki!**" (**Blue Guillotine!**) the blond cried, sending seven arcs of glowing chakra blades into the general direction whence the senbon came from. A second wave blasted through the air, more a product of the boxers-clad ninja to vent his frustration than an actual attempt to immobilize a long gone attacker. Itachi's protégé cursed out loud, another uncharacteristic outburst born of a loss of control, something the boy hadn't experienced since his "breaking." Naruto slumped to the grass, his eyes darting to the now cooling corpse of the Sound wench and the trio of toxic projectiles in her neck. The poison would no doubt dissolve the very tissues in the woman's body, making any and all autopsies virtually useless. Even now the corpse started to corrode into the calcium structures of a basic skeleton. Eyes scanned the heavens, as if to search for meaning in such a disaster.

This was just not Uzumaki Naruto's day.

"Uzumaki Naruto?"

Ice blue eyes latched onto an effeminate looking ninja about in his late teens. A Konoha forehead protector declared his allegiance plainly enough, but a forehead protector did not make this particular ninja an ally. The small clan sigil stitched on the boy's left shoulder was unnecessary, as even a casual observer could name this intruder's loyalties just by merely looking into his eyes.

The Hyuuga teenager offered a helping hand, which Naruto took. It was then that the blond decided to take note of the six other similarly dressed shinobi around him. The pale-eyed warriors all wore identical white cotton robes, hidden weapons guaranteed to be hidden within several of the folds of rough linen. Despite the rather aristocratic features of the ninja, it was obvious that all of them belonged to the Branch House. Hiashi-sama would not risk Main House ninja in a simple mission such as this, Naruto deduced.

The teen bowed deeply, a gesture mimicked by the rest of the Hyuuga before reaching into his sleeve and withdrawing a small scroll. This was placed into Uzumaki's waiting hand, something which caused the blond's curiosity to pique slightly. "Hiashi-sama would like to request an audience with you," came the answer to his unasked question. "There are some matters which the master requires clarification on. The Hyuuga compound will extend its full welcome to you, Uzumaki-sama."

The spiky-headed shinobi considered the exchange. His rudimentary training in shinobi psychology would be nothing compared to the skills the Byakugan could provide its wielder, but it was enough to know that the Hyuuga were telling the truth at this point. But to what end would Hiashi even wish his presence for?

It did not escape the former ANBU that the other Hyuuga were looking at him with barely hidden contempt, and the leader of the troop had trouble schooling his face as well. They would not tell him anything should he ask, and it was more than likely that they would be forced to engage once the "invitation" was refused.

"Tell Hiashi-sama I will rendezvous with him at 1500 hours," came the reply. "I wish to prepare myself properly for the audience."

"Of course." Another bow. "We will be expecting you at the Hyuuga compound."

The seven emissaries flickered away, leaving Naruto to his own devices. Idly, the blond thought if he could have asked for help disposing of the Oto kunoichi's body. A shrugging of shoulders. Oh well. He had five more hours until the meeting. No use being idle now.

xxxxx

Tsuchi Kin stepped out into the clearing a few minutes after Uzumaki had departed, staring intently at the signs of battle. She cursed under her breath, still not being able to accept that the brat had actually managed to kill one of Suna's best weapons specialists and one of Oto's best genjutsu users. If Uzumaki hadn't been so intent on interrogating that raven-haired harridan, perhaps he would have captured her squad's assassin as well. The kunoichi idly pushed back a lock of hair behind her ears. Thank Kami-sama for that small favor.

"There was something familiar about his chakra patterns just now."

Kin ignored the baritone voice of the Suna liaison. Baki had come up from behind, his superior stealth skills undetectable even to the highly trained Oto genin. "What I'd like to know is why the hell a jounin level shinobi is even being made to take the fucking exam," the kunoichi seethed. "In any case, how in the hell did you come across chakra like this before?"

"One of the people in my team is a demon host," Baki said casually. "A jinchuuriki."

The power of human sacrifice. It was an ancient art which bound one of the powerful tailed beasts into the body and chakra patterns of newborn children, allowing the ever present youki to dissolve into the child's development patterns, often granting the host unthinkable power. "Gaara is it?" Baki snorted at the younger ninja's quip.

"Not much guesswork with that eh?"

"It doesn't take a genius to figure that out, old man."

The Sand jounin grinned. "I guess it doesn't, at that," he admitted. "Still, we are faced with the possibility that we may need to fight a passably, if not highly trained demon host in the field. We will need to take some more precautions on our next attempt, should the opportunity arise."

"Assuming the brat will let us live in the meantime."

"The Leaf are weak-willed fools. The live for that pathetic code of honor they have. In Suna, wars would have been started on less."

xxx

If there was any other clan other than the Uchiha who thought itself invincible in its legend, it was the Hyuuga. Not without good reason however. The legendary bloodline, the Byakugan, allowed a Hyuuga to have nearly 360 degree vision, creating a near impenetrable defense against any and all stealth attack. Combine this with their ability to see into chakra systems and a taijutsu style that completely utilizes their strength, it takes little imagination to see why this clan can claim to be the strongest. "The difference between the Uchiha and the Hyuuga is most visible in this," his sensei once said. "The Hyuuga are very well aware of the limits of their bloodline, and of the danger that would come should it be broken down by opposing forces. Their paranoia is their greatest strength, and paradoxically their greatest weakness." Itachi looked him in the eye as he said this.

"Do not trust them."

It was about three in the afternoon when Uzumaki Naruto arrived in the front gates of the massive Hyuuga compound. The entire extended family was housed in a fifteen acre estate in the boundaries of the village walls, something which was a throwback to the times when the clan was part of the border guard of the fledgling ninja village in the reign of the Shodaime Hokage. The blond ex-ANBU was dressed in one of his more formal kimono ensembles (given last Christmas by Mikoto) and wooden geta. As a show of respect, he carried no weapons openly. His seal tattoos on his forearms would be enough for him should any conflict arise.

There was an envoy of three chuunin guards waiting for him by the gates. Had the blond been that kind of person, he would have been amused to see their hands constantly wandering to where their weapons must be stored in their sleeves. No weapon pouches were visible. The Hyuuga valued aesthetics almost as much as they valued strength. To Naruto's surprise, the heiress was there as well.

"Hinata-sama," the genin bowed, dropping the more familiar "san" honorific. "I come on the summons of your father."

The girl bowed and managed a shaky, thought admittedly more formal reply. "Otousama is expecting you Naruto-san," Hinata said, with barely a stutter. "Follow me."

The trip to the main living residence of the clan took five minutes. The chuunin guard opened the shoji doors and allowed Hinata to come in first, then glared at the blond genin as he followed after her. Hinata motioned him over to one of the prepared places in the tatami floor, bowed and excused herself. The girl had just reached the door when her voice once again broke the silence.

"Anou…"

"What is it, Hinata-sama?"

"If it's no trouble, it'd like to ask why you saved me."

Naruto grew contemplative, then turned his eyes upon his current hostess. "There are only two kinds of ninja," he said monotonously. "Ninja who are bound by their limits and ninja who break past them."

"Oh. Then I suppose I'm the one—"

"No you aren't." Hinata blinked in surprise.

"Sabaku no Gaara fights solely on rage," the cryptic blond explained. "The amount of mental energy required to maintain such a state is staggering to say the least. Until he breaks past this barrier and finds a better reason to fight, he can never grow into a truly powerful fighter." The heiress' eyes remained downcast until Naruto continued with "there are no weak people in the world Hinata-san. Only people who haven't decided to be strong yet."

The girl's lips quirked upwards just as the shoji doors slid open again. The regal figure of Hyuuga Hiashi graced the partially lightened hall and both Hinata and Naruto stiffened. "Uzumaki Naruto, I presume?" the clan head said. "Thank you for keeping our guest company, daughter. You are dismissed." Hinata left without even glancing back at them. there was a few moments of silence before the older man spoke.

"I suppose you're wondering why you were summoned?"

"Affirmative, Hyuuga-sama."

"I suppose we can dispense with the pleasantries then. Walk with me, Uzumaki-kun."

The pair left the room, walking into one of the stone-cobbled paths adorning the huge estate. All around them were perfectly manicured gardens, zen meditation areas and even a small pond filled with carp. Older shinobi and younger traversed a circuitous route around the area, their pace slowed down to a degree that allowed for proper conversation.

"I'm told that you are aware already of the secret behind your life." Naruto nodded. It would have meant a penalty of death should Hiashi himself tell him about the nine tailed fox. The clan head had a right to be careful.

"I was briefed upon my indoctrination to ANBU."

Hiashi nodded. "Good," he said. "I will be honest with you, Uzumaki-kun. When I had heard that the Kyuubi-no-gakki himself would be a part of the chuunin exams where both my eldest and my nephew were participating, I had my qualms about their safety in your presence." The older man's attitude was no surprise to the blond, so he was able to keep his face impassive. At least the Hyuuga was more polite than the rest of the village. "But after some investigation I realized they had nothing to fear from Uchiha Itachi's protégé unless they themselves were a threat to the village."

"However, my investigations also uncovered something unsettling which I believe must be made known to you." Naruto's ears perked up, and at his silence, Hiashi continued. "I have reason to believe there is a faction within Konoha which may be capable of destabilizing it. There is a hidden war and even I have no idea what their plans are, only that it may be a danger to all of us concerned."

_All of us concerned translating as the ruling powers of Konoha_, Naruto translated mentally. As one of the more junior members of the ruling council, Hyuuga Hiashi has a lot to lose should the status quo change. Within the clan his rule is absolute, but within the village he has yet to manage to wrangle enough political support that himself and his clan can survive on their own in the event of a civil war. The Kyuubi purred in contentment within the soul cage, the implied insecurity of the clan head being something of amusement to him. Naruto slapped the mental blocks on before he continued.

"What does that have to do with me, Hyuuga-sama?"

"Little. But it has a lot to do with your S-class secret." They stopped under the shade of a tree, admiring the view of the estate from the top of a small hill. "These people will have no interest in leaving Konoha burning, but even you will be able to understand what kind of a bargaining chip someone who's capable of that will be." Naruto understood perfectly. He, or rather what he represents, would be more than enough to tip the scales in any faction's favor, whoever they are.

"It is a giant chess game they play, Uzumaki-kun," Hiashi intoned. "I have no intentions of seeing them destroy the peace all of us have come to work for. But with little information there isn't much I can to salvage the situation before all hell breaks loose."

"Which is where you come in."

A servant with a bandaged forehead shuffled towards them and even Naruto was impressed that he hadn't been able to detect the girl. She took out a wrapped package from her sleeve and handed it to the clan head, before bowing and shuffling away. Hiashi handed the wrapped package to the blond, who looked at it curiously. "I am hiring you for an A-class information gathering mission during the lull in between the chuunin preliminaries and the main matches. Your objective, should you choose to accept, is to gather enough information on the destabilization plot and report it back to me."

"As genin I am underqualified to even accept A-class missions without my team."

"You are more than qualified and you know it. Your teammates would only become a liability at a mission of this caliber." Hiashi withdrew the package, seeing as the blond had yet to accept. "There is one last thing you need to see before I will ask you for your decision. Settsuko!"

This time Naruto was aware of the sudden flare of chakra which materialized behind him, to his right. "Hiashi-sama," the kunoichi intoned. The Clan head nodded at her salute and said "young Naruto wishes to visit our guest. Take him to the visitor's bungalow." A pair of ivory-white eyes turned on the blond and it took years of training to suppress the flinch that almost became reflex. "Ask my subordinate to escort you to the residential area should you change your mind," Hiashi said.

The guest bungalow as it turned out was a small residence the size of a normal Konoha civilian's house. Settsuko the kunoichi stood by the door, possibly not even intending to move for as long as Naruto was inside. Briefly, the blond worked out the timetables of escaping a burning house should the woman decide to torch it with a well-placed _Katon_ jutsu.

Naruto raised his hand to knock, when a voice from inside yelled "Yes?" cough "Who is it?" The blond's instincts screamed at him as the door opened, revealing the face of Gekkou Hayate. "Hayate-san?" the blond managed. "What are you doing here?"

"Is that my name?" he chuckled, stifling out a cough. "The weird white-eyed people didn't tell me what it was. Said something about finding out the truth in a few days anyway. What did you say your name was?"

_He doesn't have any memory of who he is_, Naruto realized. "Naruto," he replied. "Uzumaki Naruto. You worked with my sensei a couple of years back before you retired from the division due to health reasons."

"That sounds like me" cough "all right. Say, was I always this sick? I keep thinking there's a lot I'm supposed to know but I don't anymore."

The blond wasn't paying attention. At this moment he was using an advanced medical jutsu to peer into Hayate's erratic chakra patterns. The capacity was still there but there was something about the way it circulated that was a bit…off. Then he had it.

"Naruto-san? Your eyes are glowing." Naruto ignored the remark.

"Hayate-sempai. I have a few questions I'd like to ask."

"Okay but I don't know how much I can help with" cough "whatever it is. Damn cough. You wouldn't happen to have" cough "any lozenges on you?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Hayate thought hard, his forehead scrunching up in concentration. "Well, I remember walking in this park with the sakura blossoms falling in the air," he said, in between coughs. "I remember sweet tofu and this woman with odd purple hair. Say, is she anyone I should remember? I keep having this nagging feeling that she's someone important to me."

Naruto remembered too, as Yuugao-neechan was unnaturally whimsical the day after her first date with Hayate-san. It was a day the people at the ANBU lounge hadn't let her live down, even a solid two years afterwards. A memory jutsu then. Something which should have erased a couple of minutes of memory, but was botched and now Gekkou Hayate couldn't even remember almost two years of his life.

Hiashi lied. He did know who the main propagator of the destabilization attempt. There was little else to convince anyone otherwise. An Uchiha did this. An Uchiha who had access to the Sharingan, and all its genjutsu wielding affinities. Someone so versed in the technique that he decided to just wipe a few minutes of memory, something which Hayate shouldn't have witnessed. But Hayate proved himself stronger and the perpetrator lost control, wiping out two years instead of a few minutes.

But who else was in on the attempt? The Uchiha alone cannot pull of something of this magnitude. So there were other parties, and the task at hand would be identifying them all. Unfortunately this would make Naruto come across ANBU Military Investigations, something which he had to do covertly to keep well within regulations. And then there was Itachi-sensei to consider. Muttering a quick excuse, the blond walked out.

"Settsuko-san," he said. "Tell Hiashi-sama I will be accepting his terms."

xxx

A/N: Yes I'm back! Took a while for me to update again, what with pressure from school and at home keeping me away from the computer. Still, I'm having a lot of optimism for this next arc of Cold Blue Metal, and I hope you guys can stay with me until I finish it.

I'll probably take out the romance part of the story for now, and until I can determine where and which direction the action is going to be, there will be no pairings. Sorry for the ones expecting a NaruKin pairing (even the ones who had been expecting a NaruIta, though hell will freeze over before THAT happens) but I'll have to keep you waiting some more.

Again really sorry for the slow update!


	26. Puppets and Puppeteers

**Puppets and Puppeteers**

"Train me."

"No."

Sasuke burned with indignation at his brother's refusal. "But why?!" he shouted, nearly knocking over the mug of tea. "There's a lot more you can teach me than Kakashi-sensei. I don't even know how the hell he got his Sharingan but it sure as hell isn't his own. Train me!" Itachi paced the living room and went over to a cabinet. His little brother had harassed him ever since he got out of the hospital, and even now the ANBU captain wasn't getting any peace. It was bad enough back when they demoted his apprentice, but this was much worse. He cursed inwardly when he couldn't find his migraine medicine.

"Because I will not let your pathetic little vendetta distract you from growing stronger."

The answer stopped the genin cold. "Even if I train you for a solid year your strength will not be enough to even scratch a fraction of Uzumaki's potential," Itachi said. "You should drop this silly little excuse for a rivalry and just face facts. He's just stronger than you are. And in the future, he'll possibly even surpass me." Sasuke shuffled in his seat, feeling very much like the twelve year old he was.

"I still don't see what makes him so special."

"You won't understand."

"Then try me."

Itachi took a deep breath and took a seat in front of the couch. "Naruto is different from us all in that he had to grow up in adversity," the older Uchiha said. "From day one the whole world was against him and treated him like he'd never be worth anything. Every single step he took, every single bit of progress he gained, he had to fight tooth and nail to keep. Still he not only survived, he thrived. His growth is nothing short of phenomenal and even if I had not come along, he would have probably turned out the same way."

"If that's true then why did you ever let him go?"

Now it was Itachi's turn to be silent. "Well?" Sasuke challenged. "Why did you?"

"That has nothing to do with anything."

"Oniisan!"

"Leave now Sasuke. Go to your Kakashi-sensei. Perhaps he may yet surprise you."

The younger Uchiha left whispering oaths that would have given Mikoto reason to scrub his mouth out with soap for a whole month. Itachi took the tea set and left it in the sink, saying "doesn't anybody use the door anymore?" Tenzou grinned from his perch in the fire escape.

"Where's the fun in that Uchiha-teicho?" he replied. "We're ninja. We never use the door." Itachi didn't even bother to set the tea set again, muttering something about "bastard freeloaders and stupid doors."

"Say, you didn't assign Naruto a recon mission did you?"

"What?"

"From your reaction I guess this is news to you too."

Itachi took the scroll proffered to him and swept some things away from the kitchen table. The boy had been gone for a week now, his former mentor had assumed he was on a training sabbatical of a sort since he had to retake the chuunin exams. The document detailed directly observed movement patterns and second-hand information from the ANBU sources, some dating as far back as two weeks ago. Naruto had been a busy little bee hadn't he?

"Your orders?"

"He's just gathering info right?"

"That's about it sir. But he hasn't reported in at all."

"Give him some time," the ANBU captain mouthed. "He probably wants to check his facts first. You know how anally retentive the brat can be sometimes." Tenzou looked doubtful. "I dunno cap'n. This still stinks. Naruto always reports in. No matter how inane it's for." Point. The boy once reported in on an errand to get the Uchiha matriarch a dozen eggs and a half kilo of brown sugar. So what was the brat working on then?

"Watch his back for now," Itachi said. "It's probably an Eyes Only detail Sandaime-sama assigned him. We can at least trust his judgement. For now look for the kind of patterns he may be looking at. He's on a search and record mission, that much is certain. If we can determine the kind of questions he's asking, maybe we can get an idea of what kind of info he's looking for."

Tenzou saluted. "Yes sir. Mission classification?" The captain thought for a moment.

"Call it a high C-class. We can't afford to waste resources at a time like this."

"Affirmative." But Tenzou didn't leave yet.

"Yes?"

"I caught the last part of the conversation. Why did you let the boy go on his own?"

Itachi shook his head in disbelief before he plopped down on his easy chair, massaging the bridge of his nose upon impact. "The boy has too much potential to be relegated to a single regimen of training alone," the Uchiha explained. "He will need to discover his own strengths if he will want to continue to grow." The other ANBU chuckled as hia superior officer glared.

"Anything you'd like to share?"

"For a minute there I thought you guys had a lovers' spat or something—ow!" The clang of the kunai's ring end impacting on the other ANBU's head resounded through the room. The other ANBU opened his mouth to protest, but was silenced by Itachi's blank stare.

Tenzou muttered an apology and picked up the kunai, handing it back to the owner. "I should have had you demoted back to genin," the Uchiha muttered, taking back his weapon. "Crazy little shit."

"So?"

"So what?"

"Why did you?"

Itachi sighed, and eased himself into the chair some more. "There's a limit to what even I can teach him, Tenzou. I just don't want to be there when I run out of things for him to learn." The other man shook his head, making his way back out the window.

"I'm surprised at you captain."

"Why's that?"

"Here I thought you were a cold-hearted bastard who spends too much time thinking of work," the ANBU climbed out the window to the fire escape. "Maybe there's hope for you yet, sir." With that, Tenzou dropped out of the tenth floor and into the dark alleys below.

xxx

A pair of blue eyes gazed upon the sleeping village of the Leaf. It was a full moon, a clear night for reconnaissance duty. Well, it would be if he was actually on recon duty. Like many people set in their ways for a long time, Uzumaki Naruto found himself unable to break free from a lot of his old habits, among them running fifteen laps around the village without being detected by the shinobi populace. It was a stealth exercise used mostly by the Tactical Teams squad of the ANBU corps, something which kept their edge even within the hallowed walls of the great ninja settlement.

ANBU was not the elite squad of Konoha because they slacked off.

He was actually surprised to find many other ninja of his age level training in this hour. Rock Lee, the so-called dead last of his days in the academy, was executing several complicated taijutsu moves in Team Gai's training center. The boy had been so impressive that the blond had actually stopped to look, noting with some grudging respect that the boy knew his martial arts.

Naruto ran into another training area a few minutes later, one with a perfectly symmetrical crater seemingly carved with chakra and what looks like the remains of a fierce weapon battle. Other training areas revealed similar states of wear that evening as well: kunai lodged in practice dummies, trees half obliterated, chakra burns on grassy clearings.

The blond ninja zipped through the rooftops, switching off the conscious part of his mind and ran with just his training in his mind. Naruto hadn't been expecting much to happen that night, so to say that he was a little bit disconcerted by the high amounts of killing intent fired a few hundred meters from his position was a bit of an understatement. Quickly before his mind could process the information, the former ANBU flickered away in the direction of the large mass of chakra, noting with some comfort that it had started to dissipate as quickly as it had materialized.

What he found seconds later wasn't entirely unexpected. Suna's jinchuuriki was breathing heavily, traces of minor chakra burns adorning the tips of his fingers and odd parts of his skin. Oddly enough it appears that his gourd of sand had temporarily broken apart into fragments, scattered lightly against the shattered and bloody roofing tiles of Sabaku no Gaara's perch. "Gaara-san," Naruto intoned. "Who did you kill?" The redhead looked his way and laughed darkly.

"No one important," Gaara replied. "Just a useless meat sack stupid enough to challenge my existence." The blond used every bit of his training to restrain himself from drawing weapons. A conflict wasn't necessary, the tactical part of his mind said. The other boy had probably acted in self defense, though one would doubt the sanity with which Gaara's opponent decided to gamble an attack where no one would be able to aid him. Naruto bent down and picked up a broken piece of metal and flicked it with his right hand. The perfect timbre of the vibrating metal told him the thing was a piece of a weapon, possibly a Sound manufactured one.

"Kinuta Dosu?"

"I care not for the names of those who become mother's food."

_It appears initial assessments were correct_, Naruto mused to himself. _Sabaku no Gaara _is_ a creature of madness_. Though the redhead's face was impassive, the lack of sanity was clearly reflected in his bloodshot eyes. Naruto called on his somewhat remedial understanding of human nature and didn't have to think hard to realize the Suna genin was a virtual psychopath. "I wonder," the other boy said, knocking the blond from his short reverie. "How would your blood feel in my hands?"

Naruto held his gaze against green eyes glowing with bloodlust. His hand faltered towards his equipment pouch, but he knew that to survive a full battle against the sand user, he must call upon his own dark powers. **This boy is interesting**, the demon fox growled from the back of the blond's mind. **There is madness there, that much is clear. His mind is fragile, but given enough training even he might have the power to challenge even you, meat sack.** A dark laugh from within the blond's mind.

**Then again, perhaps not. An amusing thought nonetheless.**

"Attack and you give me reason to retaliate," mouthed the blond, enunciating his words so they carried through the evening breeze. "You will not last against me, Sabaku no Gaara." A pair of green eyes flickered toward's the former ANBU, and Naruto was almost positive he saw a flare of yellow there.

"Whether you admit it or not, Uzumaki Naruto," the Sand genin said "we two are very much the same. The one thing different about you is that you allow these pitiful creatures to control your power." Gaara's face erupted into a rictus snarl. "The audacity of them!" he raged. Naruto would later ask himself why he even found reason to reply.

"I am no one's puppet, Sabaku no Gaara."

"You say that now, but how much of it do you truly believe?" Naruto stepped backwards involuntarily, setting himself in an attack stance. Even then the demonic chakra of the nine tailed fox begged for release. The other genin would not last fifteen minutes, high levels of killing intent or no. To the blond's surprise, a very familiar chakra pattern pulsed from the other boy. One from a similar source as his own.

**A demon host?** Another dark laugh. **I'm impressed. Perhaps this boy would prove more of a challenge to us.**

The Leaf ninja slapped on his mental shields, shutting out the demon lord's words. A battle between two jinchuuriki at this place would destroy half the residential area. Too many civilian casualties, as such not a tactically viable option. Naruto broke off that train of thought when the other demon holder erupted in maniacal laughter.

"See how they hold you in a leash!" Gaara accused. "You would restrain yourself from possibly the greatest battle of your pathetic existence for what? The continued survival of these people?! What are they to you?!"

_A four year old boy in the back corner of an orphanage living room. None of the other children would come near him, and the adults only had disdain for his presence._

"Would _they_ really shed a tear if you were to die?"

_The back alleys of Konoha, October the tenth. The beatings grew worse this time of the year. His wounds would always heal, quicker than normal a normal person's would. His mind would always remember the pain, and his body would echo this useless defensive posture at every dangerous situation during the first year of training._

"Would you live for _them_?"

_He was a demon host. This was a bit of information given him when he ascended the ranks of ANBU as one of its youngest agents in nearly a decade. Within a few years and more training, he would have more than enough skill to make lieutenant, and in another three, captain. Before the tears ran dry he cried himself to sleep, piling accusations upon his person that somehow he was still responsible for the sins of the demon lord within him. _

"Would you die for _them_?!" Gaara was almost screaming now. "These filth aren't worth protecting! They aren't worth letting live! They aren't worth anything! This is a world ruled by the strong. A world where the weak deserve nothing better than death. People like us exist to wipe them off this plane of existence, to make sure everything besides ourselves is destroyed. Death is our calling. It is all that matters. It is all that should matter."

Naruto was not blind to the presence of chakra laden sand depositing itself nearly at his feet. Some of Gaara's words had stuck home yes, but silly little psychobabble like that wasn't enough to distract him from the task at hand. Little by little, the redhead had hoped to turn the other boy's attention away from this now useless gambit, and with little effort crush Uzumaki's very body with youki infused grains of sand.

A burst of chakra from the former ANBU blew away the slowly creeping granules, and while the tiny grains had only bought the Kyuubi host a fraction of a second, it was more than enough. Sabaku no Gaara was startled to find the solid impact of a fist slamming into the left side of his face, propelling him backwards a good ten feet before he managed to load his feet with chakra and keep him from slipping off the edge of the ruined rooftop. Naruto held the punch's stance, saying "you attempted to capture me with your sand. Kinuta probably gambled on his sound jutsus being faster than the grains, but failed to estimate exactly how fast your sand truly is."

"I will not underestimate you, Sabaku no Gaara," Naruto said, dropping into an open stance. "You'd best do the same with me."

The other boy ran a thumb against the sore part of his cheek, feeling the bruise that began to form there. He licked the inside of his mouth and was surprised to find a coppery metallic taste there. "I am…bleeding?" he asked, almost in disbelief. Gaara's expression showed no change, but his eyes appeared to have gone feral. "You have made me taste my own blood, Uzumaki Naruto," the Sand ninja seethed. "Soon I will drown you in yours." A massive wave of chakra erupted from the pair, and soon the two were right in the center of a massive sand storm.

xxxx

"Interesting," the man in the shadows said. "So you say the Hyuuga have knowledge of the Uchiha plot?"

The ANBU from ROOT nodded. "It isn't clear how much the clan knows as of yet, Danzou-sama," the shinobi said. "Our spies have been having difficulty obtaining any information—"

"Of course the idiots would find difficulty obtaining information from the Hyuuga," The one-eyed ninja snapped irritably. "Those pale-eyed xenophobes are some of the most paranoid people in the village, the amazing part being that they managed to be more so than even the Uchiha. What matters at this point is how accurate the information we have even is. Well? Is it accurate?" The other man muttered a whispered apology.

"While we have no knowledge of any other details, we believe the information we have now is correct."

"Good enough. And what of operation Sword Breaker?"

"The proctors have advised against releasing him this early," another ANBU quipped. "They believe Sword Breaker deserves at least another year in training before he can be good enough to suit our purposes for him. I apologize Danzou-sama, but it was unexpected that the brat would grow this strong in just the short amount of time Itachi would train him." Danzou scratched the beginnings of a goatee with a scarred hand.

"Perhaps we had underestimated him, even after all that," he murmured. "Not a major loss in tactical gains to be sure, but something to think about nonetheless." A moment of silence passed before the elderly warrior spoke again. "In any case, we should watch the coming events. One of these days we may find our opening, and much earlier than expected as well."

"Hai, Danzou-sama."

"For the strength of Konoha, sir."

And the ANBU flickered away. Danzou stood, turning his attention on the burning lamps decorating his office. "If ever the demon brat does happen to manage to be more than a nuisance," he said, seemingly addressing no one "Konoha will need your help in, ah, making sure he no longer is." A pair of cloaked individuals materialized in the back of the room.

"Even without a 'by-your-leave,' we will take care of the pesky nine tails," the first person said in a decidedly Water Country drawl. "What makes you think you even have the power to stop us?" Danzou laughed.

"I have no intention of stopping you."

"Then what is it you want?" said the other one.

The elderly ninja turned, his eyes full of mirth. "I intend to let the demon brat do it for me." The Water Country shinobi's partner laughed. "I'd like to see you attempt to make this so-called Living Weapon yours, Danzou-san," the other man said. "He would fall before our group, demon chakra or no demon chakra. And can you really believe that he would follow orders from _you_?" Danzou grinned.

"Is that a challenge?"

"You mean to actually do it?" the Water Country ninja snorted. "You're crazy old man. But you sure got big _cajones_, if a bit lacking in brains."

Danzou made his way at his desk once more, steepling his fingers in the shadows of the flickering lamplight. "I not only intend to make him follow my orders," the leader of ROOT said, "but I will also gain his undying loyalty to me and my cause." The two cloaked ninja just shook their heads.

"I still say you're crazy old man," Water Country said. "But I'm beginning to think you're my kind of crazy."

xxxx

A/N: Yes! An update! Sorry it took me so long, but then school did sort of catch up to me and kick my ass. Needless to say that by the time you guys read this I'd be halfway past the quarter of the next chapter. Hopefully I'll manage to finish it at a much sooner date.

The politics arc is taking longer than expected. The Main Matches will undoubtedly contain some clan warfare, though I doubt if I'll have the Uchiha participate directly in the Sand-Sound invasion.

The bigger question being, if Itachi never became missing nin, who the hell is Kisame's partner?(",)


	27. This story is now dead

Author's note: Cold Blue Metal is officially dead

Author's note: Cold Blue Metal is officially dead. By the time you read this, the rewrite would already have been online. Thank you for staying with me this long, and I hope you like the new version, retitled Cold Blue Edge.


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